Cryptocurrency Hacks and Exploits Cost Traders $303M in July in Worst Month of 2023

Of the $303 million this month, investors lost about $285 million in exploit attempts and hacks including the Multichain and Curve attacks, per CertiK’s data. Roughly $8.7 million of assets were drained abusing flash loans. This is a sophisticated exploit venue that lets traders borrow unsecured funds using smart contracts instead of third parties. These types of loans are legal, but attackers sometimes use them to manipulate the price of smaller, less liquid tokens for gains. The most notable example was DeFi protocol Conic Finance being drained of 1,700 ether (ETH), worth $3.26 million at the time, using flash loans.