Q2 2026 emerges as most-hacked quarter on record with 83 incidents
Q2 2026 has become the most-hacked quarter on record by incident count, with 83 crypto protocol exploits. Total losses so far are $755.3 million, well below the record $3.56 billion lost in Q4 2020, suggesting attacks are happening more often but not yet causing record aggregate damage. The biggest hits were the $293 million KelpDAO hack and the $280 million Drift Protocol exploit. Bridge exploits were the main attack vector, causing $351 million in losses. The LayerZero OFT bridge exploit behind the KelpDAO hack alone accounted for over 38% of quarter-to-date losses. Compromised admin access and fake token price manipulation caused 37% of losses, while private key theft made up 5.66%. Other major incidents included a $36 million loss at Humanity Protocol, a $10.7 million THORChain exploit, and smaller attacks on Taiko, Aztec Connect, and Raydium.
