The second quarter of 2026 has already become the most hacked quarter on record based on attack volume, registering 83 incidents against crypto protocols according to Unfolded analysis drawing from DefiLlama figures. Even so, the $755.3 million in losses recorded thus far remain far below the $3.56 billion lost during the fourth quarter of 2020, the costliest period for such incidents. The largest events included KelpDAO's $293 million breach and Drift Protocol's $280 million exploit.

Bridge Exploits Account for Largest Share of Quarterly Losses

The data reflect a rise in attack frequency even as aggregate losses stay beneath prior peaks. A higher count of incidents paired with smaller total losses may signal reduced exploitable value inside the ecosystem, noted Dmytro Tarasiuk, product director at CORE3 and CER.live. He added that total value locked in DeFi has fallen from $164 billion before the October 10 liquidation event to $73 billion at present.

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Q2 2026 is already the most-hacked quarter on record, with around 70 hacks, twice the prior record. Yet the total amount stolen ($746 million) represents only a fraction of earlier peaks. Instead of several massive exploits, the period featured a steady series of smaller attacks.

Bridge exploits emerged as the leading attack vector in Q2 2026, accounting for $351 million in stolen funds. The LayerZero OFT Bridge incident tied to the KelpDAO hack alone drove $293 million in losses, representing over 38 percent of the quarter's total. Compromised admin attacks and fake token prices contributed 37 percent, while compromised private keys accounted for 5.66 percent.

Among recent cases, Taiko, an Ethereum layer-2 network, experienced a bridge protocol failure. Attackers took $1.7 million by breaching the chain state verification system. The project has since urged users to withdraw funds from its bridges. Additional incidents included a $4.7 million exploit on Secret Network Bridge stemming from an Infinite Mint Bug and a suspected $10 million breach that prompted THORchain to halt trading.

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A Hacken report indicated that Web3 hacks produced over $482 million in losses during the first quarter of 2026. Phishing and social engineering schemes led that period with $306 million, across 44 total incidents. Q1 also featured a single $282 million hardware wallet scam in January that caused more than half the quarter's damage.

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