This year's security situation in the crypto circle is becoming increasingly strained. The data is shocking: total assets stolen this year amount to 235 billion USD, and even more surprisingly, the number of attack incidents has decreased, but the average loss per incident has skyrocketed by 46%. What does this reflect? Hackers' methods have been completely upgraded.

**Large holders are "precisely targeted," while retail investors are "widely netted"**

Let's first look at the most heartbreaking phenomenon. Centralized exchanges suffered only 12 attacks but caused a huge loss of 1.8 billion USD throughout the year—accounting for the largest share. Among them, a single Byte theft reached 1.46 billion USD, making it the biggest financial heist of the year. This exposes a stubborn problem: so-called tight multi-signature management systems become meaningless once the server is compromised. Hackers' tactics are now very clear—targeting "admin private keys" and "hot wallets," with each successful attack yielding hundreds of millions.

Meanwhile, ordinary users face more covert threats. Phishing, private key theft, and project exit scams remain the top three killers. Moreover, scammers have started using AI. The generated scripts are seamless, fake videos are indistinguishable from real ones, and the cost is almost zero, but success rates are soaring. You can't tell if you're dealing with a human or an algorithm—that's the most terrifying part.

**"Absolute security" simply does not exist**

Whether institutions or retail investors, the primary responsibility for asset security lies with you. The market will thus accelerate its differentiation—funds will flee platforms with security risks and flow into protocols and leading exchanges that truly stand the test.

So what should ordinary players do? Simple and straightforward advice:

Only allocate main positions to top-tier exchanges, and avoid putting your money into small platforms and new projects where you can't afford to lose. Before authorizing any signatures, check three times with on-chain security tools, and do not trust any "official" private messages—AI can even fake videos. Most importantly, lower your return expectations; don't believe in stories about 100x coins or guaranteed profit mining. Products with annualized returns over 20% should raise suspicion.

Short-term pain is unavoidable; security incidents will impact market sentiment. But in the long run, this will push the entire industry to focus heavily on security and compliance, which is actually good for sectors like on-chain insurance and decentralized infrastructure. There are no gods in the crypto world—only players who survive long enough.