Amador’s assessment comes as 2025 has been marked by a surge in high-profile exploits. While markets search for a new trust equilibrium, a lack of operational readiness is leaving many projects permanently weakened.

The First Hours Define a Project’s Fate

According to Amador, the moment an exploit is detected, most protocols effectively freeze. Teams often lack a clear understanding of how exposed they are and rarely have a predefined incident response plan for a large-scale breach.

This uncertainty slows decision-making. Valuable time is lost as teams debate whether to pause contracts or keep systems running. Amador stresses that additional losses frequently occur during these early hours, when improvisation replaces structured response and coordination breaks down.

Silence Doesn’t Repair Trust — It Amplifies Panic

Following a hack, many projects hesitate to pause smart contracts due to reputational concerns. At the same time, communication with users often collapses. According to Amador, this silence does not stabilize the situation — it intensifies fear.

“Nearly 80% of hacked projects never fully recover,” Amador notes, adding that the primary damage stems not from the initial loss of funds, but from operational breakdown and erosion of trust during the response phase. Once lost, that trust is rarely restored.

Fixing the Code Isn’t Enough

A similar warning comes from Alex Katz, CEO of Web3 security firm Kerberus. Katz argues that even technically resolved incidents often mark the beginning of a project’s decline. Users leave, liquidity dries up, and reputational damage becomes permanent.

At the same time, the nature of attacks is shifting. Smart contract vulnerabilities are no longer the dominant threat. Human error has become the weakest link, with users unknowingly approving malicious transactions, interacting with fake interfaces, or exposing private keys.

Losses Hit Record Levels, Risk Turns Structural

Crypto security challenges intensified sharply in 2025. Total losses reached $3.4 billion, the highest level since 2022. Just three incidents accounted for 69% of all losses, with the $1.4 billion Bybit exploit standing out as a defining example.

Amador warns that AI-powered social engineering is accelerating this trend. Attackers can now deploy thousands of tailored phishing messages daily, pushing security risks far beyond smart contracts and into operational preparedness.

2026 Could Be Stronger — Under One Condition

Despite the grim data, Amador remains cautiously optimistic. He believes smart contract security is improving faster than ever, driven by better development standards, stronger audits, and more mature monitoring tools. In his view, 2026 could become the strongest year yet for smart contract security.

However, one issue remains unresolved: response readiness. Amador emphasizes that teams must act decisively and communicate immediately when incidents occur, even if the full scope is unclear. Early intervention, he argues, causes far less damage than allowing uncertainty to spiral.

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Social Engineering Tactics of the Hackers

According to the FBI, the attack was carried out by the North Korean-linked TraderTraitor group, known for targeting company employees through social engineering.

In March, a North Korean threat actor posed as a fake recruiter on LinkedIn and contacted an employee of Ginco, a Japan-based crypto wallet company. The hacker sent the employee a malicious link disguised as a GitHub-based recruitment test. When the employee copied the link to their personal GitHub account, their system was compromised.

In May, the compromised information was used to impersonate Ginco’s communication system. The hackers posed as DMM employees, manipulated a legitimate transaction request, and successfully executed a massive Bitcoin transfer.

The Fate of the Stolen Funds

The FBI reported that the stolen Bitcoin was transferred to wallets under the control of the TraderTraitor group. It was emphasized that the North Korean regime uses such illicit activities to circumvent economic sanctions and generate revenue.

The FBI announced its continued efforts, in collaboration with Japanese authorities and international partners, to expose and counter North Korea’s illegal crypto activities.

The DMM hack stands out as one of the largest crypto heists of 2024 but is just one of many incidents that occurred throughout the year. Stay vigilant against phishing scams!

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