Cybercriminals stole a record $2.7 billion in cryptocurrency during 2025, according to blockchain-monitoring firms. The year saw dozens of heists targeting cryptocurrency exchanges and decentralized finance projects.
The largest hack by far was the breach at the Dubai-based crypto exchange Bybit, where hackers stole approximately $1.4 billion. Blockchain analysis firms and the FBI have accused North Korean government hackers, the most prolific group targeting crypto in recent years, of carrying out this massive theft. This heist stands as the largest known crypto theft of all time and one of the largest financial heists in history.
Prior to the Bybit incident, the largest crypto thefts were the 2022 breaches against the Ronin Network and the Poly Network, which netted hackers $624 million and $611 million respectively.
Cryptocurrency-monitoring firms Chainalysis and TRM Labs both estimated the total stolen in 2025 at $2.7 billion. Chainalysis also tracked an additional $700,000 stolen from individual crypto wallets. This figure was corroborated by De.Fi, a web3 security firm that maintains a database tracking crypto thefts.
North Korean hackers were the most successful crypto thieves throughout 2025, stealing at least $2 billion according to researchers. It is estimated that these hackers, who use stolen crypto to fund the country’s sanctioned nuclear weapons program, have stolen around $6 billion since 2017.
Other significant crypto hacks in 2025 included an attack on the decentralized exchange Cetus, which resulted in a loss of $223 million. A breach against the Ethereum-based protocol Balancer led to a $128 million loss, and an attack on the crypto exchange Phemex saw over $73 million stolen.
Cybercriminals targeting crypto exchanges and DeFi projects show no signs of slowing down. In 2024, hackers stole $2.2 billion in crypto, while the total for 2023 was $2 billion.