Cyber security firm CertiK revealed Tuesday that despite declining hacks across the crypto sector in the previous quarter, the total value thieves made off with soared.

In its latest Web3 security report, CertiK said hackers managed to siphon away $750 million across 155 incidents, bringing the year’s total losses to nearly $2 billion.

It marks an approximate 9.5% increase in the value lost despite 27 fewer incidents compared to the previous quarter.

The report identifies phishing and private key compromises as the most prevalent attack vectors, accounting for $668 million in losses. Phishing alone caused $343 million in damages across 65 incidents. 

A standout case involved a Bitcoin whale who suffered a $238 million loss in August, making it the single most significant phishing attack for Q3. The attack compromised the whale’s wallet, and although some funds were recovered by the community, most of the stolen amount remains unaccounted for.

Private key compromises were responsible for approximately $317 million in losses across just 10 incidents. The most notable private key attack was on WazirX, one of India’s leading crypto exchanges. 

In July, hackers exploited WazirX’s private key vulnerabilities, leading to the theft of $231 million across more than 200 cryptocurrencies, including Shiba Inu (SHIB), Ethereum (ETH), and Polygon (MATIC), making it one of the most major breaches in Q3.

A target on Ethereum’s back

Ethereum continues to be the prime target for attacks, with $387.8 million stolen across 86 incidents, far surpassing any other blockchain, the cyber security firm found.

Multichain hacks were also prominent, with $89.8 million stolen across several networks, revealing the potential risks associated with cross-chain functionality.

While phishing and private key compromises led the quarter in terms of value lost, other notable attack methods included code vulnerabilities and reentrancy exploits. 

Code vulnerabilities resulted in $39.6 million in losses over 44 incidents, while reentrancy attacks—which allow hackers to repeatedly withdraw funds before the system can update balances—accounted for $30.3 million in losses across five incidents.

The Q3 CertiK report reveals only 4.1% of stolen funds were recovered this quarter, a sharp decline from the 14.4% recovered in Q2. Despite fewer incidents, the average loss per hack reached $5.93 million, with the median loss at $120,529.

Immunefi, a bug bounty and security services platform, noted a major drop in crypto-related losses in August., as previously reported by Decrypt.

The report revealed total losses amounted to just $15 million across five incidents, marking the lowest monthly total year-to-date and a 94.5% decrease from July’s figures.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair

Blockchain-based predictions platform Polymarket is seeking an additional $50 million in new capital amid potential plans to launch a token, The Information reported Monday.

Investors in the round will be issued token warrants, giving them the right to purchase tokens if Polymarket decides to launch them in the future, the outlet reported, citing anonymous sources.

It’s unclear whether the tokens will provide additional utility within the platform. Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan did not immediately return a request for comment.

It follows the platform’s $70 million raise over two rounds this year, where it picked up $25 million in a Series A led by General Catalyst and an additional $45 million in Series B funding with participation from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.

Polymarket has been riding high on U.S. election fervor this year, capturing nearly $1 billion in trade volume from those taking a punt on who will become the country’s 47th president.

Built atop the Ethereum and Polygon blockchain networks, Polymarket allows participants to buy and sell shares in different possible outcomes of real-world events. The price of one “share” in a prediction market ranges from $0.00 to $1, and its price correlates to its percentage chance of winning, or its “odds.”

While speculation on who will take the White House in November has helped fuel the platform’s recent surge in popularity, Polymarket also allows betting on pop culture, sporting, and other political events.

And traders are taking outsized bets this year, with total trading volume reaching its highest point on the platform last month, topping out at $472.8 million, according to one Dune dashboard.

Its popularity has led those within the Polymarket community to opine in recent weeks on the possibility of a token to help fund operations, as the platform does not currently charge users fees.

Traders have started altering their behavior in response to the speculation, attempting to artificially boost their trading volume in hopes of securing a larger airdrop reward, according to whales, or large traders, monitoring the activity, Decrypt previously reported.

On Sept. 1 at 21:44 UTC, layer-1 blockchain Cardano executed the ‘Chang’ hard fork at block 10,764,778, entering the “Voltaire Era” and introducing on-chain governance using its native token ADA.

Following the hard fork, ADA token holders now have the power to elect representatives and vote on key development proposals.

According to the Cardano roadmap, the Voltaire era “will provide the final pieces required for the Cardano network to become a self-sustaining system.” It added that the introduction of a voting and treasury system will enable network participants to “use their stake and voting rights to influence the future development of the network.”

Not mincing his words, Cardano co-founder Charles Hoskinson lauded the hard fork as “one of the greatest technical achievements in human history.”

In a tweet, the Cardano Foundation wrote that the hard fork “marks a major milestone for the Cardano blockchain, ecosystem, and community––fulfilling the promise of a truly self-governing, decentralized network.”

What is a hard fork?

A hard fork occurs when changes are made to a blockchain’s rules, resulting in a new, parallel blockchain that runs alongside the original. Cardano’s latest hard fork is named in honor of Phil Chang, the executive who spearheaded the Voltaire initiative at IOHK.

Under Cardano’s new governance model, the Cardano Foundation, Input Output Global (IOHK), and Emurgo no longer hold exclusive authority over decisions related to hard forks and other major upgrades.

The CIP-1694 lays out that three key bodies will form the foundation of Cardano’s new governance model: the constitutional committee (CC), delegate representatives (Dreps), and stake pool operators (SOPs).

The Chang hard fork is being rolled out in two phases. The first phase, currently live, introduced the constitutional committee, responsible for overseeing the governance transition.

Phase 2 will introduce DReps, letting ADA holders delegate their voting power to streamline governance, along with an on-chain voting system, all set for full implementation by 2025.

The hard fork also triggered the activation of Plutus v3, which delivers advanced smart contract efficiency, cryptographic primitives, and governance integrations.

However, the much-anticipated upgrade couldn’t prevent Cardano’s price from sinking alongside the wider crypto market, with ADA slipping by 2.6% over the past 24 hours, per data from CoinGecko.