Crypto Hackers Steal $940 Million as Security Audits Fail

Crypto investors lost nearly $940 million to hackers in the first half of 2026. A new report analyzed 135 separate exploits during this period, showing that the industry standard of security audits is failing to protect funds. In fact, 94% of the stolen money came from projects that were already audited but had vulnerabilities in areas the auditors simply did not look at.

The massive losses were driven by sophisticated attacks that bypassed code reviews entirely. Major heists at Kelp DAO and Drift occurred because of infrastructure flaws and social engineering rather than simple programming errors. Hackers are increasingly targeting admin keys, signing infrastructure, and cross chain bridges. These methods allow them to bypass security checks by hitting the human side of the business.

Even projects considered blue chips have been vulnerable to attacks involving compromised domains and internal wallets. The data suggests that audit reports often provide a false sense of security, especially when they are six months old or older. The findings serve as a stark warning that a green tick from an auditor does not guarantee that a project is safe from modern, clever cyber threats.