The crypto industry set an anti-record for the number of hacks in the second quarter of 2026.
The second quarter of 2026 was the most "productive" for hackers in terms of the number of attacks: analysts recorded 83 incidents of crypto protocol breaches. This is an absolute anti-record in the history of observations, more than doubling previous figures. However, the total damage amounted to $755.3 million, significantly lower than the peak values of past years.
The main blows fell on cross-chain bridges and DeFi protocols. The largest incidents were the hack of KelpDAO for $293 million and the exploit of Drift Protocol for $280 million. In the cross-chain infrastructure segment, losses reached $351 million, of which 38% came from the attack on the LayerZero OFT bridge related to KelpDAO. Another 37% of losses were caused by compromised administrative access and token price manipulations. Theft of private keys, contrary to popular belief, accounted for only 5.66% of the total volume.
Despite the record number of hacks, the second quarter of 2026 was not the most expensive in terms of loss volume. This anti-record is still held by the fourth quarter of 2020 with a figure of $3.56 billion. The paradox is explained by structural changes in the ecosystem: total value locked (TVL) decreased from $164 billion to approximately $73 billion, significantly narrowing the "field for attacks." As one security expert noted, the gap between the speed of protocol development and the maturity of their risk management systems continues to grow. As an example, he cited projects using a "three out of six" multi-signature scheme but storing three keys on one laptop — an obvious vulnerability that hackers actively exploit.
Among the notable incidents is the hack of the cross-chain protocol THORChain for $10 million in May, after which the team suspended the platform's operations, disabling trading and liquidity pool activities. And on June 8, attackers compromised wallets of the Humanity Protocol project, stealing about $31 million.
My analytical conclusion: The increase in the number of small and medium-sized attacks amid a decrease in total damage is a worrying signal. This points to a fragmentation of security: protocols are becoming more vulnerable, but due to reduced liquidity, hackers are forced to "fragment" their efforts. Investors should pay attention to projects with proven risk management mechanisms, rather than those chasing speed of implementation.