January Sees $370 Million Crypto Heist, Marking a Sharp Annual Increase

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In January, exploits and scams led to the theft of $370.3 million in digital assets. This monthly sum is the highest recorded in eleven months and shows a nearly fourfold jump from the same month a year prior.

According to an announcement from crypto security company CertiK on Saturday, 40 separate incidents occurred. The overwhelming majority of the value, however, stemmed from one social engineering attack that resulted in a $284 million loss.

Phishing attacks were particularly effective for criminals last month. These schemes alone accounted for $311.3 million of the total stolen cryptocurrency, highlighting their continued prevalence.

The last time monthly losses were this high was in February 2025, when attackers took roughly $1.5 billion. A massive $1.4 billion hack of the Bybit exchange was the primary driver of that earlier figure. CertiK notes the latest total is a 277% increase from January 2025’s $98 million and a 214% increase from December’s $117.8 million in losses.