The second quarter of 2026 set an anti-record for the number of hacks in the crypto industry: 83 incidents in three months
The second quarter of 2026 became the most "fruitful" for crypto protocol hacks in history: analysts recorded 83 incidents. This is an absolute record in terms of the number of attacks, although the total damage of $755.3 million falls short of historical highs in terms of loss volume.
The largest attacks of the quarter were the KelpDAO hack for $293 million and the Drift Protocol exploit for $280 million. In the cross-chain bridge segment, damage reached $351 million, with 38% of that amount attributed to the LayerZero OFT bridge incident, which is linked to the KelpDAO attack. Another 37% of losses in this segment were caused by compromised administrative access and token price manipulation. Contrary to expectations, private key theft accounted for only 5.66% of the total damage volume.
Despite the record number of hacks, the second quarter of 2026 was not the most expensive in terms of loss volume. The record is still held by the fourth quarter of 2020, when damage amounted to $3.56 billion. However, the current trend is alarming: the frequency of attacks is increasing, while the average amount of damage is decreasing. This indicates a shift in the threat landscape — hackers have switched from large but rare targets to smaller and more vulnerable protocols.
CORE3 and CER.live Product Director Dmitry Tarasyuk links the increase in the number of incidents with lower total damage to a general decline in liquidity within the ecosystem. According to his data, the total value locked (TVL) has decreased from $164 billion to approximately $73 billion. He also notes a gap between the pace of protocol development and the maturity of their risk management systems. As an example, he cites projects that use a "three out of six" multi-signature scheme but store three keys on a single laptop. Such a practice is a gross error in security management.
In May, THORChain developers confirmed a hack of the cross-chain protocol for $10 million, after which they suspended the platform's operations. And on June 8, unknown attackers compromised wallets associated with the Humanity Protocol project, causing damage of approximately $31 million. These incidents only confirm the overall trend: security in DeFi remains a weak link, and without systemic changes in risk management, we risk seeing new anti-records.
My expert assessment: The increase in the number of attacks amid falling TVL is an alarming signal for the entire industry. Hackers are adapting faster than protocols implement adequate security measures. Investors should more carefully evaluate not only profitability but also the security level of projects, especially in the cross-chain bridge and multi-signature scheme segments.