Hacks and Token Prices Report 2022

The team at Immunefi, the leading security platform for web3, releases the Hacks & Token Prices Report 2022, an overview of the impact of hacks on the prices of protocols' native tokens.

From a sample of 63 hacking incidents that occurred in 2022, the team reviewed the price of the hacked protocols' native tokens on the day of the hack, 48 hours later, and finally 120 hours after the hack.

Overview

A recent report by Immunefi revealed that over $3.9 billion was lost in web3 in 2022 due to hacks and scams, making the space a very adversarial environment.

Incentives to exploit projects in web3 are significantly larger than in web2, due to the amount of capital that exists in smart contracts. Vulnerabilities in code can result in a direct loss of this capital and lead to a significant drop in the price of a protocol's native token. Overall, successful web3 exploits can quickly spiral into a terrible financial nightmare for protocols and their users.

• On average, token prices dropped 13% in the first 48 hours after a hack and 19.6% after 120 hours.
• The two biggest initial price drops were in Impermax Finance's IMX token, which saw a 99.6% drop in the first 48 hours and also 120 hours after the hack, and Skyward Finance's SKYWARD token, with a 97.3% price drop 48 hours after the hack and a 93.7% drop 120 hours after the hack.
• While GeraCoin's GERA token dropped 96.4% in the first 48 hours after the hack, it witnessed the second biggest price drop 120 hours after the hack at 97.6%.

Top 10 Price Drops After 48 Hours

• IMX 99.6% (Impermax Finance)
• SKYWARD 97.3% (Skyward Finance)
• GERA 96.4% (Gera Coin)
• UVT 95% (UvToken)
• QANX 93.7% (QANplatform)
• ANA 89% (Nirvana)
• L2DAO 83.3% (Layer2DAO)
• LMT 80.7% (Lympo)
• TIC 79.7% (Elastic Swap)
• ELEPHANT 76.7% (Elephant Money)

Top 10 Price Drops After 120 Hours

• IMX 99.6% (Impermax Finance)
• GERA 97.6% (Gera Coin)
• QANX 97.5% (QANplatform)
• SKYWARD 93.7% (Skyward Finance)
• ANA 92.5% (Nirvana)
• LMT 91.6% (Lympo)
• ELEPHANT 80.9% (Elephant Money)
• TIC 80% (Elastic Swap)
• LODE 73.6% (Lodestar Finance)
• QBT 64.7% (Qubit)

Token Price Drops

48 Hours After the Hack

• On average, tokens saw a price drop of 13% 48 hours after a hack.
• 44.4% of the token prices dropped over 10%.
• 14.3% of the token prices dropped over 50%.
• 8% of the token prices dropped over 90%.

The IMX token witnessed the highest price drop at 99.6%, from $0.025 to $0.0001, 48 hours after the hack. On July 17th, 2022, a hacker was able to steal around 9M IMX (worth over $7M) from a couple of wallets controlled by the Impermax Finance team after stealing their private keys.

120 Hours After the Hack

• On average, tokens saw a price drop of 19.6% 120 hours after a hack.
• 55.6% of token prices dropped over 10%.
• 11% of token prices dropped over 50%.
• 11% of token prices dropped over 90%.

The IMX token also witnessed the highest price drop at 99.6%, from $0.025 to $0.0001, 120 hours after the hack.

Overview of Hacks vs. Token Price Drops

The crypto industry has suffered some of the largest hacks in its history in 2022, including several $100 million dollar hacks. In fact, the five major exploits of the year totaled $2,361,000,000 alone. And while some of the hacked protocols had considerable drops in their token prices, by comparison, they do not represent the largest percentages of token price drops.

• Ronin Network suffered an exploit that led to a $625 million loss, resulting in the RON token witnessing a 19.8% price drop from $2.29 to $1.84 in the first 48 hours after the incident.
• BNBChain suffered a hack that led to a $100 million loss, resulting in the BNB token witnessing a 3.2% price drop from $296.29 to $286.77 in the first 48 hours after the incident.
• Harmony suffered an exploit that led to a $100 million loss, resulting in the ONE token witnessing a 11.5% price drop from $0.026 to $0.023 in the first 48 hours after the incident.
• Mango suffered an exploit that led to a $100 million loss, resulting in the MNGO token witnessing a 42.5% price drop from $0.040 to $0.023 in the first 48 hours after the incident.
• Skyward Finance suffered an exploit that led to a $3 million loss, resulting in the SKYWARD token witnessing a 97.3% price drop from $13.50 to $0.369 in the first 48 hours after the incident.
• UvToken suffered a hack that led to a $1.5 million loss, resulting in the UVT token witnessing a 95% price drop from $0.44 to $0.22 in the first 48 hours after the incident.
• QANplatform suffered a hack that led to a $1 million loss, resulting in the QANX token witnessing a 93.7% price drop from $0.012 to $0.00078 in the first 48 hours after the incident.
• Nirvana suffered an exploit that led to a $3.5 million loss, resulting in the ANA token witnessing a 89% price drop from $8.66 to $0.95 in the first 48 hours after the incident.
• Layer2DAO multisig suffered a hack that led to a $298,713 loss, resulting in the L2DAO token witnessing a 95% price drop from $0.0078 to $0.0013 in the first 48 hours after the incident.
• Lympo suffered a hack that led to a $18.7 million loss, resulting in the LMT token witnessing a 93.7% price drop from $0.119 to $0.023 in the first 48 hours after the incident.
• Elastic Swap suffered an exploit that led to a $854,000 loss, resulting in the TIC token witnessing a 79.7% price drop from $4.69 to $0.95 in the first 48 hours after the incident.
• Lodestar Finance suffered a hack that led to a $7 million loss, resulting in the LODE token witnessing a 59.3% price drop from $0.41 to $0.17 in the first 48 hours after the incident.
• Qubit Finance suffered a hack that led to a $80 million loss, resulting in the QBT token witnessing a 64.6% price drop from $0.0065 to $0.0023 in the first 48 hours after the incident.
• Elephant Money suffered a hack that led to a $11 million loss, resulting in the ELEPHANT token witnessing a 76.7% price drop from $0.0000003788 to $0.00000008821 in the first 48 hours after the incident.

Token Price Recovery

Overview of Hacks vs. Token Price Recovery

A review of 16* token price recoveries from our overall dataset reveals that only the BNB token (1/16) has shown a significant price recovery. One month after the hack, the remaining tokens had not recovered and were still down an average of 77.7%.

• BNB token price was up 19.2% at $353.03 one month after the BNB Chain hack.
• RON token price was down 49.6% at $1.15 one month after the Ronin Network exploit.
• ONE token price was down 11.5% at $0.023 one month after the Harmony exploit.
• MNGO token price was down 75% at $0.010 one month after the Mango Markets exploit.
• LODE token price was down 73.1% at $0.11 one month after the Lodestar Finance hack.
• SKYWARD token price was down 97.3% at $0.036 one month after the Skyward Finance exploit.
• UVT token price was down 96.3% at $0.02 one month after the UvToken hack.
• QANX token price was down 99.2% at $0.0001 one month after the QANplatform hack.
• TIC token price was down 80% at $0.94 one month after the Elastic Swap exploit.
• L2DAO token price was down 29.5% at $0.0055 one month after the Layer2 DAO hack.
• IMX token price was down 99.6% at $0.0001 one month after the Impermax Finance hack.
• ANA token price was down 97.3% at $0.23 one month after the Nirvana exploit.
• GERA token price was down 99.3% at $0.00006 one month after the Gera Coin hack.
• ELEPHANT token price was down 82.1% at $0.00000006797 one month after the Elephant Money hack.
• QBT token price was down 80% at $0.0013 one month after the Qubit hack.
• LMT token price was down 97% at $0.0036 one month after the Lympo hack.

* The sample of 16 project tokens is gathered from the top 10 token price drops lists and a selection of some of the biggest hacking incidents in 2022 (BNB Chain, Ronin Network, Harmony, Mango Markets)

Disclaimer

• Please note that any information or analysis provided in this report is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice.
• This reported is created based on a sample of 63 hacking incidents that happened in Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4 of 2022. The overall analysis and the highest price drops only take into account this sample. The token price recovery only takes into account a sample of 16 selected token price drops included in the top price drops listing and a sample of the biggest hack incidents in 2022 (BNB Chain, Ronin Network, Harmony, Mango Markets). The price data has been extracted from CoinGecko, CoinMarketCap, and Live Coin Watch.
• The visual listings used in this report offer an overview of three specific analysis moments for the selected tokens: day of the hack, 48 hours after the hack, and 120 hours after the hack. The visual listings do not track all available prices in between the three moments.

Download the full report here. The full dataset can be found here.

For questions about this study or Immunefi itself, reach out at press@immunefi.com

About Immunefi

Immunefi is the leading security platform for crypto, protecting more than $180 billion in user funds, and securing protocols across the full development lifecycle, from pre-deployment through production.