Summary
In 2025, crypto criminals stole over $700 million by hacking into people's digital wallets and using other methods. The crimes often involved old tricks and affected many individual investors, like a couple in the UK who lost all their Cardano coins. Although all transactions are visible on blockchain, recovering stolen cryptocurrency remains very difficult.
Key Facts
- Crypto criminals stole more than $700 million from individuals in 2025.
- The theft involved hacking digital wallets and using other tactics.
- A UK couple lost their Cardano coins after hackers accessed their digital keys stored in cloud storage.
- Globally, about 560 million people own cryptocurrency, and about 12% of British adults have owned crypto-assets.
- Most stolen funds are from cyber-attacks on crypto companies, such as a $1.5 billion theft from Bybit by North Korean hackers.
- In 2025, attacks on individual crypto investors doubled from 40,000 in 2022 to 80,000.
- Individual attacks accounted for $713 million of the stolen crypto.
