Cybercriminals stole an estimated $2.7 billion worth of cryptocurrency in 2025, marking the highest annual total on record, according to data from blockchain-monitoring firms.
The losses were driven by dozens of attacks on cryptocurrency exchanges and decentralised finance (DeFi) platforms, with the largest breach occurring at Dubai-based crypto exchange Bybit. Hackers stole about $1.4 billion in digital assets in the incident, making it the biggest known crypto theft to date.
Blockchain analysis firms and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation attributed the Bybit hack to North Korean state-sponsored hackers, who have been the most prolific crypto thieves in recent years.
Before the Bybit incident, the largest crypto thefts were the 2022 hacks of the Ronin Network and Poly Network, which resulted in losses of $624 million and $611 million, respectively.
Blockchain analytics firms Chainalysis and TRM Labs both estimated total crypto thefts in 2025 at $2.7 billion. Chainalysis also recorded an additional $700,000 stolen from individual crypto wallets. Web3 security firm De.Fi, which runs the REKT database tracking crypto thefts, reported a similar figure.
North Korean hackers accounted for the majority of the stolen funds, taking at least $2 billion in crypto this year, according to Chainalysis and Elliptic. Elliptic estimates that North Korea has stolen roughly $6 billion in cryptocurrency since 2017, with the proceeds believed to help fund the country’s nuclear weapons programme.
Other major hacks in 2025 included a $223 million breach at decentralised exchange Cetus, a $128 million attack on Ethereum-based protocol Balancer, and a theft of more than $73 million from crypto exchange Phemex.
The latest figures continue an upward trend in crypto-related cybercrime. Hackers stole $2.2 billion in digital assets in 2024 and $2 billion in 2023, highlighting persistent security challenges in the sector.
