Crypto exploit losses in May fall 90% over month to $68M: CertiK
Crypto platform exploit losses dropped to $68.3 million in May, down nearly 90% from $650 million in April, according to CertiK. May marked the third month of 2026 with losses below $100 million. About $2.6 million was tied to phishing, and roughly $9.4 million was recovered or returned. The biggest May theft was the Verus Protocol cross-chain bridge exploit on May 18, which took $11.5 million. THORChain followed with a $10.1 million loss. Code vulnerabilities caused the largest share of losses, about 66% or $45 million, while wallet and private key compromises cost $13.7 million. Cross-chain bridges were the most targeted sector, accounting for $28.6 million, or 42% of total losses. DeFiLlama recorded 29 incidents in May, including seven private key compromises.
