Crypto Hacks Drain $1.1B in First Half of 2026

Bad actors stole $1.1 billion across 212 security incidents in the first half of 2026, setting a harsh new record for the industry. A new report shows that four major exploits involving KelpDAO, Drift, Resolv, and CoW Swap accounted for roughly $707 million of those total losses. KelpDAO took the largest hit after losing $292 million to a fake cross chain message. Drift Protocol lost $285 million in just 12 minutes.

State sponsored groups drove much of the damage. Security experts linked the KelpDAO and Drift attacks to a North Korean hacking cluster. That same group took responsibility for Humanity Protocol losses, bringing total North Korean linked thefts to $609 million. Attackers also targeted new vectors, including an AI agent prompt injection attack in May and several wallet delegation exploits.

Privileged key misuse proved to be the most expensive attack vector, causing about $790 million in losses. Meanwhile, code level bugs caused the highest number of individual incidents. Security teams now face faster attack frequencies, with monthly incidents growing from 18 in January to 57 in June. Traders need to stay cautious and watch for updates on cross chain bridge security as the year continues.