The security situation of digital assets in 2025 has shown a strange contrast: fewer security incidents, but the total losses have surged by 46%, reaching a staggering $2.935 billion. What does this reflect? Simply put—hackers are no longer casting wide nets; they are targeting specific victims and launching precision strikes of nuclear-grade accuracy.

DeFi remains the hardest-hit area. 126 incidents account for 63% of the total, with losses reaching $649 million. Liquidity mining sounds lucrative, but your principal may actually be serving as a hacker’s ATM. What’s hidden behind a "seemingly reasonable" return rate?

Even more heartbreaking data comes from exchanges. Only 12 incidents occurred throughout the year, but losses totaled $1.809 billion. A leading exchange was hacked for $1.46 billion in a single incident, accounting for half of the year's total losses. No matter how large a centralized platform is, once it’s compromised, it’s like the sky falling. The so-called "security" is just paper tiger in the eyes of hackers.

The situation in the ETH ecosystem is even more alarming. The entire ecosystem lost $254 million, far ahead of other chains. Why? It’s very practical—on-chain assets have the highest value, making them the top target for hackers. When a tree grows tall, it attracts the wind; this principle also applies in the crypto market.

But an even more terrifying trend has emerged. Generative AI has become a new tool for hackers. The "official notifications" you receive may not be genuine, the influencer’s trading signals could be AI-generated, and even customer service calls might not be from real people. The cost of AI forging voices, faces, and handwriting is plummeting, but the realism is skyrocketing. Difficult to defend against, this is the current situation.

How to survive? Here are some hard tips:

Don’t blindly trust any platform. No matter how big the exchange or popular the DeFi protocol, it’s not an absolute safe vault. Distribute your funds across multiple places; never put all your eggs in one basket.

Private keys are paramount. If you can control your private keys yourself, don’t store them on exchanges. Seed phrases must be stored offline physically—written on paper and kept securely. Screenshots? Cloud storage? None of these are safe.

Be wary of overly perfect opportunities and services. Ask yourself: could this be AI-generated? For any transfer or authorization operation, verify repeatedly through multiple official channels.

Be extremely cautious with smart contract approvals. Regularly review and revoke unnecessary permissions—this is fundamental to preventing DeFi vulnerabilities.

The bull market is here, and everyone’s eager to jump in. But hackers are working even harder. Remember this logic: to survive in the crypto market, security is 1, and the zeros after it are the rest. Without that 1, even the most zeros will vanish instantly.

Risk awareness is your strongest card in bull and bear cycles. It’s not just about making money, but also about protecting what you have.