Crypto founders are facing a storm of trouble, and it’s not just the market volatility. In a world where trust is already shaky, a staggering 59% of people familiar with crypto don’t feel confident about its security. Even 40% of crypto owners share the same fears.
The industry took a massive hit when the Lazarus Group pulled off a $1.46 billion hack in February 2025. Talk about a wake-up call! With over 600 million crypto users globally, the individual losses from social engineering scams are estimated to be between $6 billion and $15 billion in 2024. That’s a lot of dough.
The Lazarus Group’s $1.46 billion hack is a chilling reminder of crypto’s precarious security landscape.
The hackers are getting clever. The Lazarus Group didn’t just stumble upon their targets; they used sophisticated phishing tactics to infiltrate Bybit, compromising staff and cold wallets. Imagine believing your assets are safe, only to find out you’ve been outsmarted by a phishing email. How’s that for a plot twist?
Private key exposure accounted for a whopping 75% of total losses in 2024, with North Korean hackers leading this unfortunate trend. And let’s not forget the FBI’s report that social engineering accounted for half of the $5.6 billion lost to crypto fraud in 2023. Coinbase users lost over $300 million annually to social engineering attacks, demonstrating that vulnerabilities in the crypto industry are prevalent and costly. The potential losses mirror the 600,000 to 1.1 million BTC estimated to be held by Bitcoin’s mysterious creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.
But it gets worse. Crypto founders and executives are now prime targets for sophisticated hacking, including sneaky Zoom call infiltrations. It’s like a bad spy movie, but with financial ruin on the line. 28% of American adults are estimated to own cryptocurrencies in 2025, which makes the stakes even higher for founders as they navigate this treacherous landscape.
Inside threats are rampant; hackers exploit company insiders or compromise internal systems to get sensitive info. The lack of detailed reports on these Zoom infiltrations doesn’t help either.
In short, the crypto world is a battlefield. Founders are under siege, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. The industry touts improvements in security, but with the likes of the Lazarus Group lurking around, it’s hard to feel secure.
Welcome to the future of finance: chaotic, risky, and a little bit terrifying.
