Digital currency thefts are on the rise.
Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto via Getty Images
The value of cryptocurrencies stolen by criminals has skyrocketed in the first six months of 2025 after a wave of physical attacks targeting prominent hacks and crypto holders and their relatives.
So far, a report published Thursday by blockchain analytics firm Chain Orisis said that $2.17 billion was stolen from a crypto service that has already taken away $1.87 billion in funds stolen from the platform in 2024.
Overall, the total value of digital tokens stolen from both crypto platforms and individuals has earned over $2.8 billion, and is already approaching Crypto Stolen last year, with a total of $3.4 billion.
The majority of the funds stolen from the service came from a cyberattack on Dubai Crypto Exchange Bybit in February. It is estimated to be the largest code robber in history.
However, the rise in stolen crypto assets was also driven by a surge in attacks on individual crypto wallets. Personal wallets account for more than 23% of all theft, and attackers have increasingly accessed funds towards physical violence and coercion, the chain analysis said.
In January, David Balland, co-founder of Crypto Wallet Firm Ledger, was invited to his wife from his home in central France. Before they were released, the attacker cut off Barrans’ fingers and demanded ransom money from his fellow co-founder, Eric Raschebek.
Separately, in May, the father of a code entrepreneur was taken by four men wearing ski masks during the daytime. The trickster demanded a ransom of millions of euros and cut off one of the man’s fingers. He was released by the police a few days later.
Eric Jardine, research lead at Chain Orisis’ Cybercrimes, told CNBC that the increase in crypto-related theft is driven primarily by the adoption of crypto and increased price increases.
“Employment means that there are more services and users in the crypto ecosystem, making the theft more common. Price increase means that even if the total stolen assets remain relatively constant over time, they are worth more US dollars than crypto services and individuals lose,” Jardine said in an email.
Jardine proposed that an increase in attacks on individual crypto holders could be related to the fact that crypto trading services are increasing security.
“If services become better in security, malicious actors could target individual wallet holders and trade off a single, large-scale robbery in favor of a large number of small casualties,” he said.
Meanwhile, the rise in wealth accumulated through holdings of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin has led to more crypto influencers flaunting their lifestyles on social media platforms.
Jardine stressed the importance of not blaming victims of physical code-related attacks, adding, “The flashy display of wealth can clearly attract the attention of bad actors compared to a more modest outward lifestyle.”
