Most of the targets are so-called decentralized finance – or DeFi – protocols, which deploy software-based algorithms to enable crypto investors to trade, borrow and lend on digital ledgers without using a central intermediary.
Cryptocurrencies may have crashed this year but they remain a digital cash-machine for one potent constituency: hackers.
At least US$718 million ($1.03 billion) has been stolen so far in October alone, taking the gross tally for the year past US$3 billion and putting 2022 on course to be a record for the total value hacked, according to blockchain specialist Chainalysis Inc.
