Crypto Hackers are Shifting Focus to RWA Projects, CertiK Report Shows

A brand new report from CertiK assessed the RWA (real-world property) market in 2025 and located a rising wave of hacks. Criminals have began shifting their strategy in the course of the first half of the yr, hammering on the know-how’s weaknesses.

Additionally, the report highlights how nearly all of tokenized property sit on Ethereum and some dominant protocols. This focus means a single main exploit may ripple by the complete $13.9 billion+ RWA sector.

RWA Hacks on the Rise

Blockchain safety researchers at CertiK published their Skynet RWA Safety Report right this moment. It exhibits how threats towards RWA initiatives have advanced since 2023, and the assault floor now extends throughout each on and off-chain property.

From January to July, the RWA sector misplaced $14.6 million to hacks and frauds, which is sort of as a lot because the entirety of 2023. Up to now, there are not any indicators of stopping, particularly since RWAs received a lot of market attention this yr.

Distinctive Hybrid Vulnerabilities

Nonetheless, CertiK doesn’t ascribe financial forces as the explanation for this shift. In earlier years, RWA crime centered on off-chain threats, with credit score and mortgage defaults representing a considerable chunk of all incidents.

In the present day, nevertheless, the RWA market is undoubtedly changing into extra prone to hacks:

“The info highlights a transparent transformation within the RWA menace panorama. The primary half of 2025 exhibits an entire shift: losses jumped to almost $14.6 million, and have been brought on totally by on-chain and operational failures. The menace has advanced from exploiting exterior monetary preparations to attacking the core know-how…itself,” CertiK claimed.

And but, RWA’s distinctive integration with TradFi makes it weak to hacks on each ends. Oracles are the important thing hyperlink between the on-chain and off-chain worlds, which suggests a single breach right here could cause sensible contracts to behave irrationally. It might completely untether the RWA from the underlying property, permitting for worthwhile exploits.

In different phrases, a agency could supply RWAs solely primarily based on “rock strong” property like gold or US Treasury bonds, however a well-placed hack may trigger the complete safety construction to break down.

Loads of companies base RWAs on different sturdy assets like real estate, however the illiquid nature of this market additionally allows oracle manipulation. Most RWAs on the US market at the moment include property like these, not non-public credit score, however that doesn’t essentially supply actual safety.

Safety Measures and TradFi’s Function

CertiK describes a couple of layers of safety, a few of which can be somewhat counterintuitive. To be clear, it prioritizes the traditional hallmarks of crypto safety, however it additionally contains different steps.

For instance, CertiK firmly careworn the significance of legally sound contracts as “a poorly drafted settlement may…render the complete construction unenforceable.” This may be catastrophic within the occasion of a serious breach.

Because of this, the agency claimed that TradFi institutional participation is a crucial element of RWA safety. Companies like BlackRock have already got well-established rules for many of CertiK’s suggestions, from authorized language, strong asset storage, administrative guardrails, and extra.

Sadly, this makes JPMorgan’s recent report that TradFi establishments are dropping curiosity in RWAs all of the extra regarding. If crypto-native companies will quickly symbolize the majority of the RWA market, they’ll want diligent preparations to keep away from this rising hack wave.

For now, this report particulars many measures that may be taken, and it assesses all the most important gamers in right this moment’s RWA market on their safety rules. So long as these firms hold proactively enhancing their safety posture, they’ll outpace these assaults.

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