"DeFi" crime hits record high in first 7 months of 2021 -CipherTrace

FILE PHOTO: Representations of cryptocurrencies Bitcoin, Ethereum, DogeCoin, Ripple, Litecoin are placed on PC motherboard in this illustration taken, June 29, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Losses from theft, hacks, and fraud in "decentralized finance" or DeFi, a thriving segment in the cryptocurrency sector, hit an all-time high in the first seven months of the year, a report from crypto intelligence company CipherTrace showed on Tuesday.

But losses from crime in the overall cryptocurrency market dropped sharply to $681 million at the end of July, compared to $1.9 billion for the whole of 2020 and $4.5 billion in 2019.