Crypto Hacks Top $1 Billion in H1 – Here Is Why 2026 Has Become a Record Year for Exploits

• Crypto projects lost more than $1 billion to hacks during the first half of 2026, according to blockchain security firm Blockaid.
• The company said H1 2026 recorded the highest number of verified exploit incidents ever, with North Korea-linked hackers responsible for several of the largest attacks.
• Ethereum and Solana suffered the greatest losses, while Blockaid warned that AI-related exploits could become a growing threat in the second half of the year.

Crypto projects suffered more than $1 billion in losses during the first six months of 2026, as cyberattacks reached record levels, according to a new report from blockchain security firm Blockaid.

Although total losses remained below the previous year’s figure—largely because of the massive $1.5 billion Bybit hack—Blockaid said the number of confirmed exploit incidents reached an all-time high.

The firm noted that it verified more crypto exploits during the first half of 2026 than it recorded throughout all of 2025.

North Korea-Linked Hackers Remain a Major Threat

Blockaid attributed the largest share of stolen funds to hacking groups linked to North Korea.

Among the biggest incidents were the $285 million Drift exploit and the $292 million KelpDAO exploit, both of which the firm believes were carried out by DPRK-linked actors.

According to the report, many of these attacks relied on sophisticated LinkedIn social engineering campaigns that ultimately compromised multisignature wallet signers, a tactic Blockaid expects to remain a significant threat going forward.

Ethereum and Solana Saw the Largest Losses

By blockchain network, Ethereum recorded the highest losses during the first half of the year at approximately $332 million, narrowly followed by Solana with roughly $326 million in stolen assets.

Blockaid said Ethereum’s concentration of high-value decentralized finance protocols—including stablecoins, restaking platforms, and decentralized exchange aggregators—continues to make it an attractive target for attackers.

On Solana, however, the report found that attackers more frequently targeted wallet infrastructure and signing systems rather than exploiting vulnerabilities in smart contract code.

Security Reports Show Similar Trends

Other blockchain security firms have reported comparable findings.

Earlier this year, Immunefi estimated that crypto projects lost approximately $972 million across 207 hacking incidents during the first half of 2026, while Quill Audits reported roughly $935 million in losses from decentralized finance exploits.

Although the estimates vary slightly, each report points to historically high attack activity across the crypto ecosystem.

AI-Powered Exploits Could Rise Next

Looking ahead, Blockaid warned that attacks targeting AI-powered blockchain applications are likely to increase during the second half of 2026.

The firm pointed to the Bankr exploit as an early example of attackers targeting AI agents and expects future incidents involving prompt injection, misuse of AI tools, and unauthorized transaction signing as adoption of AI-powered crypto applications accelerates.

As decentralized finance and AI continue converging, security experts expect defending against increasingly sophisticated attacks to remain one of the industry’s biggest challenges.

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