In February, Bybit’s violation set a new record for the greatest hacking in the history of cryptography, the North Korean cybercriminals flying more than $ 1.4 billion in a quick and daring robbery. This incident, as well as others, highlighted vulnerabilities within the cryptographic ecosystem, in particular in decentralized funding protocols (DEFI). According to TRM Labs, $ 2.1 billion in crypto was lost due to attacks in the first half of 2025, highlighting the urgent need for improved safety measures.
Centralized exchanges (CEX) and Defi protocols must learn from these incidents to avoid future hacks. For CEX, significant changes are necessary in the way transactions are signed. Based only on the summaries of the user interface is no longer sufficient; The manual decoding of call data is crucial to ensure that funds reach their planned destination. Advanced solutions such as “intelligent co-signs” and multipartite calculation can validate transactions and divide private keys into several fragments, improving security.
In recent hacks, the interfaces were manipulated to deceive leaders by authorizing malicious transactions. More than 80% of stolen cryptography this year was taken by infrastructure exploits, which has given an average of 10 times more than other types of attack. This model indicates a clear and growing threat that CEX must approach.
For the DEFI protocols, the first step is to implement robust guarantees that close the attack vectors, which makes it difficult for hackers to exploit their infrastructure. When the pirates try to move illicit funds through decentralized platforms, improvements in risk intelligence, transactions monitoring and portfolio screening are essential. These measures can detect malicious activity in a few seconds, allowing security teams to take rapid measures.
The experience of the CEO of Bybit, Ben Zhou, with the hacking of February, illustrates the challenges of the frost -stolen funds. The large quantities of ETH have been spread over numerous portfolios in hundreds of transactions, which makes the monitoring and recovery of funds difficult. This highlights the need for DEFI protocols to improve their efforts to prevent pirates from exploiting their infrastructure.
A mixture of intelligence in real time, human intelligence and advanced risk management dashboards can play a crucial role in detection and response to incidents. This layer approach allows the screening of interactions and transactions against blocked addresses, the allocation of portfolios to surveillance areas and the application of risks rating in real time for addresses. Suspicious portfolios and IP connections can be blocked before the funds are lost, allowing security teams to interpret behavioral anomalies and take rapid measures.
Healthy competition between exchanges and Defi protocols is beneficial for customers, who deserve the choice. However, hacking against a platform should be treated as an attack on all industry. Close collaboration is not only a good PR; This is an opportunity to form a united front against thieves that endangers the future of industry. Each hacking of hacking of consumer confidence, and if they continue, regulators can impose restrictions that penalize users and developers of law respectful of laws.
The DEFI protocols, by design, are open to all users and do not supervise or do not manage transactions such as centralized alternatives. A non-guardian approach means that developers DEFI cannot freeze illicit funds through their platform. Legislators may not fully assess the functioning of DEFI platforms, leading to accusations against developers for transactions for which they were not personally responsible. Recent crypto hacks serve as awakening for developers DEFI responsible for creating solid governance and security models that follow technological progress.
The careful prudent design, diaper defense systems and continuous security journals have the potential to ensure that crypto hacks no longer bother for opportunistic thieves. The deepest truth is that if the crypto does not regulate, it could become one of the most convincing counter-arguments against the free market itself. Traditional finance works under a clear set of forced rules created by regulators, acting as a stamp against systemic risk and crime. DEFI, on the other hand, prides itself on eliminating intermediaries and embracing the dynamics of the pure market. The events in progress show that absolute freedom may not be durable without even a thin layer of coordination or guarantees.
The ideal may not be a 100%free market, but 85%, where the remaining 15%serve as a layer of programmable rules designed to maintain security, prevent abuse and promote confidence. It is not a question of reproducing the bureaucracy of traditional finance but of implementing automated, transparent and mini-invasive standards for things such as money laundering, fraud detection and risk allocation. Consider it as railings at the protocol: smart and modular layers that allow DEFI to preserve the opening while ensuring responsibility. These could be open source standards focused on the integrated community directly in protocols, decentralized applications and interfaces – a collective effort to reduce systemic threats without compromising decentralization.
Defi does not need to imitate traditional finance to mature, but freedom without responsibility can invite chaos. The objective is not to restrict innovation but to do so to the proof of the future thanks to shared standards, an ethical conception and resilience. Yes, it will take time, investment and experimentation, but in the long term, dividends will be enormous. 
