As we approach the final day of a massive year for the crypto industry, a 
recent report revealed that the sector has lost nearly $3 billion amid the 
emergence of new trends from malicious actors and growing security 
complexities. Related Reading: Solana Bearish Formation Hints At Major 
Correction Until Mid-2026 – Here’s The Target 2025 Crypto Losses Increase By 
45% On Tuesday, blockchain security firm SlowMist shared its 2025 Blockchain 
Security &amp; AML Annual Report, highlighting the severe security challenges the 
crypto industry faced throughout the year. According to SlowMist, the total 
value stolen from crypto hacks increased by 46% in 2025 compared to 2024, a 
trend previously noticed by earlier reports. Notably, crypto theft had been 
more devastating by the first half of this year than the entirety of 2024. A 
Mid-Year report by Chainalysis showed that 2025’s activity by the end of June 
revealed a significantly steeper trajectory into the end of the first half 
than any previous year, with an alarming velocity and consistency. Now that 
the year is near its end, security incidents have cost approximately $2.935 
billion, according to SlowMist data, significantly surpassing the $2.013 
billion in losses from the previous year. However, the number of incidents 
dropped year-over-year (YoY) despite the total amount of losses increasing, 
signaling a trend of fewer but larger-scale crypto heists. The number of 
incidents declined by 51%, with 200 cases in 2025. In comparison, 2024 saw 410 
reported hacks. The report shared that DeFi remained the most frequently 
targeted sector this year, with 126 security incidents, accounting for 
approximately 63% of all hacks and total losses of around $649 million. This 
represents a 37% and 62% YoY decrease from 2024’s 339 incidents and $1.029 
billion in losses, respectively. Meanwhile, Centralized exchange (CEX) 
platforms reported 22 incidents, which accounted for $1.809 billion in losses, 
led by Bybit’s hack. The February attack resulted in approximately $1.46 
billion being stolen in a single incident, becoming the most serious and 
largest security event of the year. Regulatory Enforcement Strengthens 
Although phishing remained one of the most active schemes, scams and intrusive 
attacks continued to evolve in 2025, noted SlowMist. Therefore, scams have 
become more deceptive and difficult to detect, with malicious actors no longer 
relying on a single method of attack to deceive victims: Traditional phishing 
has gradually expanded into permission hijacking, malicious code execution, 
and supply-chain poisoning. Attacks are no longer reliant on a single method; 
instead, they increasingly combine social engineering, browser exploitation, 
new protocol mechanics, and hybrid lure strategies to form stealthy and 
destructive attack chains. However, the report highlighted that crypto 
enforcement and sanction actions worldwide displayed a “clear trend of 
escalation” this year, as regulatory and law enforcement agencies directly 
intervened “in key areas of crypto-related money laundering, fraud, sanctions 
evasion, and illicit financing.” Related Reading: Crypto’s Big Money Signals 
Change: BTC Holders Pause, ETH Whales Buy Notably, there were 18 incidents 
this year in which lost funds were recovered or frozen. In these cases, the 
total stolen funds totaled to $1.95 billion, of which nearly $387 million was 
successfully returned or frozen. SlowMist concluded that “the development of 
the Web3 industry will no longer rely solely on technical innovation. (…) 
Organizations that can build stronger internal security controls, more 
transparent fund governance models, and more comprehensive KYT/AML review 
capabilities will gain longer-term resilience in the next cycle.” Featured 
Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com

Crypto Hacks Swipe Nearly $3 Billion In 2025 Despite Fewer Attacks – Report

Wallets tied to the deployer of the TRUMP memecoin have moved tens of millions 
of dollars to Coinbase, drawing fresh attention to how liquidity is being 
unwound. Over the past three weeks, the deployment address behind the TRUMP 
meme token…

TRUMP deployer deposits $94M USDC to Coinbase over 3 weeks

Musk&#8217;s proposal could reshape digital content monetization, potentially 
intensifying competition among platforms and influencing creator economies.
The post Elon Musk open to boosting X creator payouts under strict anti-abuse 
safeguards appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Elon Musk open to boosting X creator payouts under strict anti-abuse safeguards

BitMine snared another 32,938 ETH on Tuesday as end-of-year tax-loss sellers 
and bots kept prices down, Fundstrat’s Tom Lee said.

BitMine bags $98M in ETH as year-end selling caps gains: Tom Lee

Bitmine has increased its exposure to Ethereum again this week, staking 
another $352 million in ETH. Bitmine is not slowing down, even as Ethereum 
trades well below the levels at which the company built much of its position. 
On Dec.…

Cryptocurrency price in USD