How to protect crypto wallet funds: 158,000 thefts in 2025 and a checklist

The Binance hack on 29 October took about $6.3 billion, and Binance says it will cover its users' losses. Nobody covers yours if the theft happens in your own wallet. If you are working out how to protect crypto wallet funds you hold yourself, start with the scale: Chainalysis counted 158,000 personal wallet compromises in 2025, with at least 80,000 victims and $713 million stolen. Personal wallets made up 7.3% of all stolen crypto in 2022 and 44% in 2024.

On an exchange

Your controls here guard the account. The exchange's own wallets are its job.

• Turn on the withdrawal address whitelist, so money can leave only for addresses you approved in advance.
• Replace SMS codes with a hardware security key or a passkey. A SIM swap gives an attacker your SMS codes.
• Set the anti-phishing code that the exchange prints in every genuine email.
• Use an email address you use nowhere else.

In a hot wallet

• Keep the seed phrase offline, on paper or metal. Never type it into a website, a form or a chat, and never photograph it.
• Keep only spending money in the hot wallet and move the rest to cold storage.
• Use a separate wallet with a small balance to try new apps, so a malicious approval reaches only that balance.
• Run the wallet extension in a separate browser profile with no other extensions.

On a hardware wallet

• Buy from the manufacturer. Devices from one Southeast Asian reseller carried an implant that sent the seed phrase out over LTE, and three tampered Ledger addresses lost more than 60 BTC in a day.
• Check the device's authenticity on arrival. After an attacker stole Keystone's device key on 20 October, Keystone asked buyers of units delivered after that date to contact support.
• Add a passphrase on top of the 24 words, and test recovery with a small amount before you move savings.

Our storage guide covers multisig for larger balances.

Offline risks

Chainalysis logged 46 violent attacks on crypto holders in the first half of 2026, from home invasions to kidnappings. Attackers succeeded in 12 of them, 26%, down from 67% in 2024.

“Publicly disclosing cryptocurrency holdings, whether through social media, conference appearances, or on-chain activity linked to known identities, can make individuals targets”

— Chainalysis, report on violent attacks against crypto holders, 6 August 2026 · chainalysis.com

Our count

• $713 million over 158,000 cases is about $4,500 per theft.
• Spread across at least 80,000 victims, the loss is at most about $8,900 a person.
• 158,000 cases against 80,000 victims is almost two compromises per victim. Many people lost money more than once, which fits attackers returning to a seed they already hold.

That last number gives you the first move after any compromise. Create a new seed phrase on a clean device and move everything to it; revoking approvals or changing passwords leaves the stolen seed working.

This guide is general information, not a security audit of your setup. Figures come from Chainalysis via The Block and from Chainalysis's August 2026 report on violent attacks.