Jess Symington, research lead at Elliptic, a blockchain forensics company, discusses the massive upswing in DeFi hacks during 2021, resulting in over $10 billion of DeFi value lost. Show topics:

  • the state of crime in DeFi
  • how much value has been lost to exploits
  • whether the majority of hacks are the result of user or developer error
  • the various types of exploits
  • how to confirm when a project did, in fact, rug pull
  • which blockchains are most susceptible to having exploits
  • what has been happening recently in ransomware
  • how DeFi hackers cash out
  • why ransomware attackers, who usually request payment in Bitcoin, have a tougher time cashing out than DeFi hackers 
  • whether hackers trend towards a specific profile/demographics 
  • how easy it is for law enforcement to find hackers 
  • whether blockchain’s transparency is proving to be a helpful tool for regulators
  • Jess’s advice on how to prevent hacks for both protocols and users

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Episode Links

Elliptic

Hack Coverage

Unchained Podcast on Ransomware