The cryptocurrency sector has increasingly become a prime target for hackers in recent years.

According to a report submitted by bug bounty and security services platform Immunefi, the Web3 space suffered a total loss worth over $685 million in Q3, 2023. 

This significant loss increase is particularly alarming given that losses suffered from hacks and frauds were over $428 million in Q2 this year.

The recent release by Immunefi denotes a whopping 59.9% increase in malicious attacks targeted at obtaining funds illegally from poorly secured blockchain protocols. 

Providing more details, the platform stated that over $662 million was lost to hacks across 49 separate incidents. 

The remaining balance of over $22 million was lost to fraudulent investment schemes captured across 27 specific incidents.

The report also disclosed more unsettling findings. According to Immunefi, Mixin Network and Multichain were among the hardest hit, with a combined loss of $326 million due to hacks. 

This mammoth loss accounted for 47.5% of all losses recorded in Q3. Other protocols, such as CoinEx, CoinsPaid, Curve Finance, and JPEG’d, also fell victim to illegal fund draining by malicious actors.

Moreso, the Ethereum blockchain-based projects were the prime targets of these bad actors as a record number of 35 Web3 protocols were hit on the older blockchain protocol. 

Meanwhile, Binance-owned BNB Chain came a close second on the list, with 25 protocols seeing their funds drained.