New Delhi, Nov 20 (IANS): The month of November has witnessed a loss of $173 million in cryptocurrency so far, with two incidents making up 91 per cent of the losses.

According to the blockchain and smart contract security company CertiK, November has already registered the fourth-highest monthly losses in 2023.

This surge was driven by the recent hack of the cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex.

Hackers have stolen over $114 million from Poloniex after its “hot wallets” were drained by cyber-criminals.

Arkham data showed that an Ethereum wallet, now tagged as "Poloniex hacker," sent a total of $114 million worth of tokens from Poloniex in 357 transactions.

"Losses in November had so far reached $173 million with two incidents making up 91 per cent of the losses," CertiK Alert posted on X.

"November already has the 4th highest losses of any month this year," it added.

The security firm also reported that one particular phishing scheme resulted in a loss of around $27 million.

On the other hand, the confirmed losses from hacks, frauds, and exploits in October were substantially smaller, at around $32.2 million.

Meanwhile, over $7 billion in cryptocurrency has been illicitly laundered through cross-chain crime, with North Korea's Lazarus Group being linked to the theft of around $900 million between July 2022 and July of this year.

According to the blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, decentralised exchanges (DEXs), cross-chain bridges and coin swap services have processed $7 billion of illicit funds.