Bullet points:
• December proved to be the month with the least crypto stolen in 2022, with $62.2 million worth of cryptocurrencies stolen.
• The blockchain security company CertiK highlighted the $15.5 million worth of exit scams as the method that stole the most value over the month.
• The largest incident of the month was the $15 million Helio Protocol incident, when a trader took advantage of a price discrepancy in Ankr Reward Bearing Staked BNB (aBNBc) to borrow millions worth of HAY.

In December of 2022, the amount of cryptocurrency stolen in the month dropped to its lowest monthly figure of the year. According to CertiK, a blockchain security company, the total value of crypto stolen was $62.2 million. This is a significant decrease from the previous months, which saw over $100 million worth of crypto stolen. The most common method of stealing cryptocurrency in December was through exit scams, which accounted for $15.5 million of the losses. The second largest source of losses was through flash loans, which accounted for $7.6 million.

The largest incident of the month was the $15 million Helio Protocol incident on December 2nd. Here, a trader took advantage of a price discrepancy in Ankr Reward Bearing Staked BNB (aBNBc) and borrowed millions worth of HAY. This caused the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Ankr to suffer a separate exploit, in which an attacker minted 20 trillion aBNBc, causing its price to plummet.

In total, there were 23 major incidents of crypto theft in December. While this is still a significant amount of money, it is a marked decrease from the previous months. This could be attributed to the holiday season, which saw a decrease in malicious activity. CertiK has continued to monitor the situation, and is likely to issue future reports detailing any changes in the amount of crypto stolen in the coming months.