Crypto security experts warned that social engineering, rather than software vulnerabilities, has emerged as the primary cause of losses across the digital asset industry in 2025.
Industry data showed that most successful crypto attacks this year began with human interaction rather than technical exploits.
Nick Percoco, chief security officer at Kraken, said attackers increasingly rely on manipulation rather than hacking systems directly.
Attackers aren’t breaking in, they’re being invited in.
Nick Percoco said.
Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis reported that more than $3.4 billion was stolen from the crypto sector between January and early December.
Nearly half of that total was linked to a major February breach at Bybit that relied on social engineering tactics.
Investigators said attackers used manipulated communications to inject malicious code and alter transaction details before siphoning funds.
Security professionals described social engineering as the practice of deceiving individuals into revealing sensitive information or approving harmful actions.