$136M Crypto Losses in August Highlight Ongoing Infrastructure Risk

Crypto security losses reached $136 million across 50 incidents in August, according to PeckShieldAlert data. This figure is another reminder that market recoveries do not erase infrastructure risk.

Even when prices rise and liquidity improves, attackers continue to target smart contracts, wallets, bridges, exchanges, and individual users. The number of security losses can be tricky to handle as it includes different types of incidents, such as phishing and protocol exploits.

The August total still points to a busy month for attackers, with 50 incidents tracked by PeckShieldAlert. Security incidents tend to follow liquidity, meaning that when more money moves on-chain, there is more incentive to attack.

Crypto security incidents can involve code exploits, private-key compromises, bridge attacks, phishing campaigns, front-end compromises, fake airdrops, social engineering, or malicious approvals. The broad threat surface remains due to the connected environment of protocols, chains, wallets, exchanges, bridges, signing tools, custody setups, and user interfaces.