Crypto Security Losses Reach $1.1 Billion in Record-Breaking H1 2026
Crypto security losses surged to record levels in the first half of 2026, surpassing $1.1 billion in just six months. According to a report by Blockaid, this exceeds the total losses recorded throughout all of 2025. The incident count reached 3.4 times the previous full-year level, indicating that attackers are exploiting vulnerabilities faster than projects can address them.
The two biggest attacks occurred in April, with the Kelp DAO and Drift Protocol incidents accounting for $293 million and $285 million in losses, respectively. These breaches demonstrate how a single incident can erase significant value within hours.
Ethereum (ETH) recorded the largest losses at $332 million, while Solana (SOL) trailed closely behind with $326 million in losses. The attack methods differed significantly between the two ecosystems, with Ethereum's high-value protocols being targeted and Solana's signer-heavy multisig ecosystem being compromised.
Blockaid's report highlights that cross-chain bridges remain a major source of dollar exposure, with the KelpDAO exploit demonstrating how bridge infrastructure continues to attract sophisticated attacks. The security landscape is evolving rapidly, with attackers targeting the architecture specific to each blockchain rather than focusing on larger ecosystems.