August Crypto Losses Jump to $163 Million With Bitcoin Holder Hit for $91 Million
Crypto hackers and scammers stole over $163 million from the crypto space in August 2025 across 16 separate attacks. According to Cointelegraph, this represents a 15% increase compared to July's $142 million in losses. However, the figure remains 47% lower than August 2024 losses.
Two major incidents drove most of the monthly damage. A Bitcoin holder lost 783 BTC worth $91 million through a social engineering attack. Bad actors posed as crypto exchange and hardware wallet support staff to trick the victim into sharing credentials. The stolen funds were then funneled through Wasabi Wallet across multiple addresses.
Turkish crypto exchange BTCTurk suffered the second-largest loss at nearly $50 million. Attackers accessed hot wallets across multiple networks including Ethereum, Avalanche, and Arbitrum. They converted stolen assets through MetaMask swaps. This marked BTCTurk's second major security breach since June 2024.
Social Engineering Attacks Rise as Crypto Prices Surge
The August losses coincide with both Bitcoin and Ethereum reaching new all-time highs during the month. Bitcoin crossed $124,000 on August 14, while Ethereum surged past $4,946 on August 24. Blockchain security firm PeckShield noted hackers are shifting strategy to concentrate on centralized exchanges and high-value individual targets.
Chainalysis reports that over $2.17 billion has been stolen from cryptocurrency services in the first half of 2025 alone. This represents a 17% increase compared to 2022 levels at the same time period. Personal wallet compromises now account for 23.35% of all stolen fund activity year-to-date.
Hank Huang, CEO of Kronos Research, told Cointelegraph that crypto exploits often rise alongside crypto prices. This creates high-value rewards for attackers targeting prime victims. The trend reflects how criminals adapt their methods to maximize returns during bull market conditions.
We previously reported that Lightning Network integration enables nations to process millions of small payments with near-zero overhead, creating new possibilities for secure financial infrastructure that could reduce vulnerability to centralized exchange attacks.
Cryptocurrency Security Faces Growing Pressure From Sophisticated Threats
The August attacks reflect broader changes in how criminals approach cryptocurrency theft. BeInCrypto notes that approximately $14.6 million was stolen from Real-World Asset tokenization projects during the month. This suggests hackers are diversifying targets beyond traditional exchanges and individual wallets.
North Korean groups continue to dominate large-scale cryptocurrency theft. State-sponsored actors stole $1.34 billion in 2024 across 47 incidents, representing 61% of total stolen funds for the year. The February 2025 Bybit hack worth $1.5 billion demonstrated how sophisticated these operations have become.
PeckShield data shows the total number of hacks has been trending downward over eight months. August recorded 16 incidents compared to 17 in July and 20 in June. This suggests improvements in overall ecosystem security despite rising dollar amounts stolen.
The rise in sophisticated social engineering and the targeting of centralized platforms creates new challenges for the cryptocurrency industry. As digital asset adoption accelerates globally, security firms recommend that high-value targets implement robust security measures including hardware wallets, multi-signature arrangements, and verification protocols for support communications.
