The DeFi Disaster

The decentralized finance (DeFi) space has taken quite a hit in 2022, with hackers making off with a staggering $1.6 billion in stolen crypto. This marks a grim milestone, surpassing the total losses recorded in 2020 and 2021 combined. It’s almost as if hackers have been granted a free pass, and they’re taking advantage of it.

March Mayhem

March 2022 turned out to be the most disastrous month on record, with a whopping $719.2 million lost to nefarious exploits. A major culprit behind these losses was the infamous Ronin Bridge exploit, which saw attackers abscond with over $600 million worth of crypto. At this rate, the term “March Madness” may need to be redefined!

April Assaults

As if March was not enough, April proved to be equally vicious, recording a total of 31 major attacks, almost one for each day of the month. The largest theft during this period involved $182 million stolen from Beanstalk Farms through a flash loan attack. Talk about a “flash” in the pan!

Other Notable Heists

• $80 million lost from Fei Protocol
• $10 million lost from Saddle Finance

Both of these protocols made headlines when they took to Twitter, offering bounties in exchange for the return of the stolen funds. It’s a strange world when victims turn to social media to negotiate with their attackers—like trying to haggle with a burglar in a Twitter DM!

Flash Loan Frenzy

The infamous flash loan attacks had a record-breaking tally in April, reaching losses of $301.4 million. To put that in perspective, the combined losses from such attacks in the first quarter of 2022 totaled just $6.7 million. This exponential growth is enough to scare even the most stoic crypto investors.

TVL Tumbles

As if all of this wasn’t enough to keep avid investors awake at night, the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi has plummeted below $200 billion for the first time since mid-March. Reflecting the recent chaos, the TVL dropped by over 3.5% between April 30 and May 1, further emphasizing just how shaky the DeFi landscape has become.

In the last 30 days, we’ve seen a 13.5% decrease in TVL and a shocking 22% decline from its all-time high of over $254 billion back in December 2021. All these statistics make it hard to resist joining in on the collective gasp from the crypto community!