The crypto industry hit an anti-record for the number of hacks: 83 incidents in a quarter
The second quarter of 2026 will go down in history as the most "fruitful" for cyberattacks in the cryptocurrency sector. Analysts recorded 83 protocol hacks — an absolute record for the number of incidents in the entire history of observations. The total damage amounted to $755.3 million, which, however, is not an all-time high in terms of loss volume.
Major attacks and damage distribution
Two attacks dominated in scale: the KelpDAO hack for $293 million and the Drift Protocol exploit for $280 million. Together, they account for more than 75% of the quarter's total damage. The cross-chain bridge segment draws particular attention: losses here reached $351 million. Of this amount, 38% came from the LayerZero OFT bridge incident, which is directly linked to the KelpDAO attack. Another 37% of the damage in this segment was caused by compromised administrative access and token price manipulation. Private key theft, despite the loud headlines, accounted for only 5.66% of the total volume.
Paradox: many hacks, but less money
Despite the record number of incidents, the second quarter of 2026 was not the most expensive in terms of the volume of stolen funds. This "title" still belongs to the fourth quarter of 2020, with a figure of $3.56 billion. The increase in the number of attacks while total damage decreases is an alarming signal, indicating structural changes in the ecosystem.
As noted by Dmitry Tarasyuk, Director of Product at CORE3 and CER.live, the main reason lies in a sharp reduction in overall liquidity: TVL (Total Value Locked) fell from $164 billion to approximately $73 billion. Simply put, there is less for hackers to "take." However, this does not make the situation less dangerous. Tarasyuk rightly pointed out the critical gap between the speed of protocol development and the maturity of their risk management systems. As a striking example, he cited projects using a "three-of-six" multisignature scheme but storing all three keys on a single laptop. This is a flagrant violation of basic security principles.
High-profile incidents of the month
In addition to the giant hacks, the quarter was also marked by other significant attacks. In May, THORChain developers confirmed a $10 million hack, after which they were forced to suspend the protocol, blocking trading, liquidity pool operations, and other sensitive functions. And on June 8, hackers compromised wallets associated with the Humanity Protocol project, stealing approximately $31 million.
My expert conclusion: The record number of hacks amid a declining TVL is not just statistics, but a diagnosis. The industry is experiencing an "era of small but frequent robberies," which points to a systemic vulnerability: hackers have adapted faster than protocols have implemented adequate security measures. If the trend continues, trust in the DeFi sector could be undermined much more severely than by a single large-scale attack.