Crypto Hacks Topped $1 Billion in First Half of 2026, Blockaid Finds

Six months into 2026, the crypto industry has already crossed a grim milestone that used to take a full year to reach.

Blockchain security firm Blockaid reported that crypto projects lost more than $1 billion to hacks during the first half of 2026. Ethereum-based projects suffered the highest losses at $332 million, largely attributed to protocol code vulnerabilities, while Solana projects lost $326 million, primarily through signer infrastructure attacks.

The split between the two chains’ dominant attack vectors is itself informative. Ethereum’s losses concentrating in protocol code vulnerabilities points to smart contract logic errors and audit gaps as the primary weak point for projects built there, while Solana’s signer infrastructure attacks suggest a different failure mode, compromised or poorly secured transaction-signing systems rather than flaws in the smart contracts themselves.

The report adds crypto-specific context to what’s already been a difficult year for security industry-wide, with the Coldcard hardware wallet exploit covered extensively elsewhere on this site adding a fresh, high-profile incident to the tally even as the first-half figures were being finalized.

Security researchers have consistently pointed to the same broad categories of risk across these reports, smart contract audit quality, private key and signer infrastructure management, and social engineering, as the recurring themes behind the large majority of major crypto losses, rather than exotic, novel attack techniques.

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