Price Manipulation Attacks Surpass 2025 Total in Just Two Months

Rising price manipulation attacks are causing significant problems for crypto traders and lenders. In fact, according to TRM Labs, there have been 32 such exploits already recorded in 2026, surpassing the total number of cases from all of last year.

The attackers target illiquid tokens with vulnerable oracles, artificially inflating their price before using them as collateral to borrow other assets from lending protocols. When the price crashes, they walk away with the borrowed assets and leave the lender with worthless collateral.

This type of manipulation is becoming increasingly common, accounting for about one in eight hacks this year. However, the share of stolen value has remained relatively flat, suggesting that these attacks have become cheaper and more repeatable.

The growth in crypto asset-backed lending protocols is also contributing to the problem. The total value locked in these platforms has increased by 56% over the past two years, with the value of active loans nearly doubling to $29 billion.