Record-Breaking Cryptocurrency Thefts: Visa Reports Over $3 Billion Stolen in 2022

Visa, the global payment provider, has reported that 2022 saw a record-breaking year for cryptocurrency thefts, with over $3 billion stolen in on-chain thefts. According to Visa's biannual threats report, which was published on March 20, cryptocurrency bridge services were a favored target for threat actors. The report pays special attention to token bridges and their vulnerability, as fraudsters exploit a bridge service’s smart contracts to either forge new transactions or allow for the approval of unauthorized transactions. The total amount of funds stolen via token bridges totaled $2 billion from January through early October 2022.

The report also mentions a crypto-focused phishing campaign in which actors impersonated a crypto exchange company in emails to harvest the victim’s account login data. Once the real exchange prompted the threat actor for two-factor authentication (2FA), they used the spoofed site to prompt the victim to enter their 2FA information. They then used the real 2FA from the spoofed site to complete the login process.

In February, it was reported that Visa and its competitor Mastercard would delay the launch of new partnerships with crypto firms due to high-profile bankruptcies in the industry. However, Cuy Sheffield, head of product at Visa, dubbed the report inaccurate and reassured that Visa would continue to partner with crypto companies to improve fiat on and off-ramps and build new products that can facilitate stablecoin payments.

On Feb. 20, the Bitcoin market cap flipped the market cap of Visa for the third time in history. By Mar. 14, the gap between the two reached more than $20 billion in favor of BTC.