San Francisco, May 23 (IANS): Hackers stole over $400 million from crypto projects in 40 attacks in the first quarter (Q1) of 2023 in the US, a new report has shown.

According to blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs, the amount of funds lost in the first quarter was 70 per cent, down from the same period in 2022.

However, the amount lost was actually less than in any other quarter of 2022.

Moreover, the report showed that the average hack size fell to $10.5 million in Q1 2023, down from nearly $30 million in the same quarter of 2022, despite a similar number of incidents (around 40).

To date, in Q1 2023, hacking victims recovered more than half of all stolen funds.

According to the report, hackers are increasingly returning stolen funds in exchange for a "white hat" reward from the affected projects. In 2023, hackers recovered more than half of the stolen funds.

Notably, a hacker who stole $1.5 million from Tender.fi in March returned the funds after receiving a $8,50,000 bounty.

The report also looked into the possible causes of the decrease in crypto attacks.

Crypto hacking is receiving increased regulatory scrutiny, as evidenced by a number of high-profile enforcement cases.

Crypto exchanges are tightening KYC/AML requirements, making it more difficult to cash out stolen coins.

In addition, the report said that the industry had seen the continued implementation of anti-money laundering standards by virtual asset service providers (VASPs), increased efforts by law enforcement and regulators to go after bad actors and the increasing sophistication of blockchain intelligence tools.