NEW YORK : Losses from theft, hacks, and fraud in "decentralized finance" or DeFi, a thriving segment in the cryptocurrency sector, hit an all-time high in the first seven months of the year, a report from crypto intelligence company CipherTrace showed on Tuesday.
But losses from crime in the overall cryptocurrency market dropped sharply to US$681 million at the end of July, compared to US$1.9 billion for the whole of 2020 and US$4.5 billion in 2019.
The drop in crypto crime overall reflected the industry's growing maturity and much-improved security infrastructure, investors said.
The DeFi sector, on the other hand, registered criminal losses of a record US$474 million from January to July.
DeFi applications, many of which run on the Ethereum blockchain, are financial platforms that enable crypto-denominated lending outside of traditional banks.
"It shouldn't come as a surprise that as the DeFi ecosystem expands, so are DeFi crimes," Dave Jevans, CipherTrace's chief executive officer, said in an email to Reuters.
"Just eight months into 2021 and DeFi hacks, thefts, and frauds have already surpassed the total DeFi crimes from 2020. This means regulators around the globe are paying closer attention to DeFi specifically."
The value locked - the total number of loans on DeFi platforms - was US$80.4 billion on Monday, down from US$86 billion in mid-May, DeFi Pulse data showed, but up more than 600per cent from US$11 billion in October last year.
There are two types of DeFi crimes: the hack of a DeFi protocol by outsiders, or a "rug pull" by insiders, CipherTrace said. A "rug pull" occurs when crypto developers abandon a project and run away with investors' money.
The majority of DeFi crimes in 2021 appear to have been conducted by ..
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