Introduction

This report synthesizes recent industry analysis that frames 2025 as a pivotal year in crypto security. Key voices including CertiK co founder Ronghui Gu and market analytics from AInvest indicate a shift in attacker focus from code level exploits to human centric manipulation. Hacking, phishing, social engineering and operational mistakes contributed to roughly 2.47 billion dollars in losses in the first half of 2025. The largest single event was the Bybit breach on February 21, 2025, which accounted for approximately 1.4 billion dollars of the total. This article unpacks the timeline, the tactics used, the actors involved, and the defensive implications for exchanges, wallets, auditors and investors.