2025 Bitcoin scams CertiK, a leading blockchain security company, reported that the first half of 2025 saw over $2.1 billion in bitcoin theft. This is a concerning revelation that highlights the rapid evolution of blockchain security. This year’s wave of attacks is different because hackers are now focusing on how people behave, rather than finding flaws in smart contracts or protocols.
This change marks a new stage in cybercrime across the Web3 ecosystem, where phishing attempts, social engineering, and private key compromises are now more common than other types of exploitation. The user is now the weakest link, not the code, as blockchain protocols get stronger.
Human Error Replaces Code Flaws in Blockchain Hacks
Coding errors, DeFi protocol issues, and bridge vulnerabilities have been the primary causes of most blockchain security breaches. A high-profile example of the risks associated with unprotected smart contract infrastructure was the 2022 Ronin Bridge attack, which resulted in over $600 million in losses.
The pattern has changed, though, by 2025. CertiK’s mid-year report states that most occurrences are now tied to social engineering, rather than malicious programming. Attackers are using fake airdrops, malicious browser extensions, fraudulent support accounts on Discord and Telegram, and phishing websites that appear to be legitimate Web3 platforms to obtain what they want.
This change is a depressing sign of progress: as technology becomes stronger, enemies are adapting their tactics to exploit human trust, which is more easily manipulated and less resilient.
Rising Threats of Sophisticated Crypto Scams
CertiK’s analysis reveals a concerning trend: more than 400 separate events have resulted in a $2.1 billion loss in 2025 so far. Many of these breaches occurred due to malware that drained wallets, fake decentralized application (dApp) interfaces, and compromised private key storage.
A famous NFT collector lost more than $24 million worth of digital assets after clicking on a bogus token migration link. This is one of the most well-known cases. In another instance, a Layer 1 blockchain community moderator encountered a fake wallet update advertisement and authorized a fraudulent MetaMask transaction. CertiK stated that, despite formal verification and security audits making smart contracts safer, most consumers remain unprepared for the psychological complexity of modern crypto scams.
How Users Are Being Tricked by Phishing in Web3
The fact that the crypto environment is open-source and doesn’t require permission is liberating, but it also allows bad actors to infiltrate. In 2025, phishing is the most popular type of attack, and it often looks like:
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Token airdrop claims that require wallet connection
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Customer support impersonators offering help on Telegram
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Malicious QR codes displayed at crypto events
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Sponsored Google ads mimicking genuine platforms like Uniswap, MetaMask, or Phantom
Blockchain transactions are permanent, unlike traditional banking, where bank systems can identify and undo illicit behavior. There’s no going back after you sign and send it. This reality has made it more critical than ever to protect your pocketbook and learn at the same time.
Why Users Are the New Target
As DeFi protocols improve their security and platforms like Chainlink, Polygon, and Arbitrum enhance their oracle protection, it becomes increasingly complex to break into the backend. Hackers are constantly evolving, and now they consider end-users as the most straightforward entry point.
The rise of browser-based wallets, especially extensions like MetaMask and Rabby Wallet, has made things more vulnerable to attack. Many users are at risk if they don’t practice good cybersecurity hygiene, such as using a cold wallet, a hardware wallet, or avoiding connections they don’t know.
Additionally, the overlap between cryptocurrency and social media has made it easier for scammers to impersonate developers, influencers, or support agents. Criminals who seek to exploit others will find numerous opportunities in Discord servers, Twitter direct messages, and Reddit threads.
What AI Does in Crypto Scams
As AI fraud increases, the situation becomes more complex. In 2025, CertiK found AI-generated phishing websites that changed their behavior based on the victim’s wallet provider or location. People have also exploited deepfake videos of well-known crypto influencers or founders to promote bad token dumps. For experienced investors, this makes it significantly more challenging to distinguish between genuine enterprises and their counterfeit clones.
What the industry is doing and what’s next
To address this surge in breaches, blockchain companies are investing more in tools for monitoring on-chain activity, detecting behavioral threats, and educating users on how to utilize the technology. MetaMask and other platforms are adding transaction previews that display the destination address and contract calls clearly and understandably, allowing users to review them before approving.
CertiK, SlowMist, and PeckShield are among the security companies that have advised projects to utilize real-time threat information feeds and provide mechanisms for the community to report issues. Crypto exchanges like Binance and Coinbase have developed user risk assessment models that identify when individuals are acting in a manner that appears suspicious.
Account abstraction and social recovery wallets, particularly those based on Ethereum’s EIP-4337 standard, are gaining popularity as user-friendly alternatives to handling raw private keys at the protocol level.
Legal frameworks and regulatory pressures
This problem is also getting the attention of governments. The SEC in the U.S. and Europol have begun planning to combat crypto fraud, illicit financial services, and decentralized money laundering.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has called for stricter implementation of the travel rule, which requires exchanges to identify the owners behind wallet addresses. Regulators, on the other hand, must be careful not to cross the line between ensuring security and respecting the decentralized nature of crypto.