September Crypto Hacks Total $127M: Smart Contract Exploits and Phishing on the Rise

🔹 The crypto market suffered 20+ major hacks in September, with total losses reaching $127 million

🔹 Over $307 million was stolen in Q3, pushing the 2025 total above $2.55 billion

🔹 Hackers increasingly target smart contract loopholes, phishing schemes, and malicious code injections

Hacks Slow Down, But Losses Still Mount Compared to August, hacker activity in September dropped by around 22%, but the damage was still severe: $127 million vanished across 22 major attacks targeting DeFi protocols and personal wallets. According to PeckShield, September was a “quieter” month compared to August’s $163 million in thefts. Still, the sophistication of attacks continues to grow, showing that hackers are becoming more selective rather than less active.

Biggest September Hits: UXLink and SwissBorg The largest single incident was the UXLink exploit, with estimated losses between $44–48 million. Ironically, the attacker later fell victim to a phishing scam and lost a portion of the stolen funds. Another high-profile case involved SwissBorg DEX, which lost over $41 million. Phishing also made victims on an individual scale. One user lost $13.5 million, though the funds were later recovered. Smaller protocols like Yala and GriffAI collectively lost $10.6 million.

Hackers Target Smart Contract Loopholes Analysts report that September’s exploits were mostly tied to smart contract vulnerabilities: unauthorized token minting, faulty price oracles, and stablecoin withdrawals. Several attacks mirrored the style of North Korean-linked hackers, with stolen funds instantly converted to ETH and funneled through Tornado Cash. September also saw panic spread in the open-source world: a hack targeting npm package repositories threatened widespread damage but ultimately stole just over $1,000 before developers patched the breach.

2025 Tally: $2.55 Billion Already Stolen In Q3 alone, crypto hackers drained $307 million, raising this year’s cumulative thefts to $2.55 billion. The largest quarter incident was the $54 million hack of BTCTurk exchange. Interestingly, major centralized exchanges have so far avoided massive breaches, likely due to stronger security. By contrast, Web3 and DeFi protocols remain highly vulnerable and harder to track.

Tornado Cash: The Laundromat Runs Hot Even as the number of large-scale hacks declined, activity on Tornado Cash surged. Deposits and withdrawals have more than tripled since June, signaling hackers are aggressively laundering and dispersing their stolen assets.

What’s Next: Calm Before the Storm? Prediction market Polymarket currently sees the chance of another $100M+ hack as relatively low. But experts warn of a possible “black swan” exploit that could strike without warning. While September didn’t bring a mega-hack, the steady stream of mid-sized and smaller exploits proves hackers are adapting—and still very much a threat to the crypto economy.

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