Crypto Hack Losses Head Past On-Chain Revenue for First Time Since 2020
Crypto hack losses reached $8.78 billion in 2026, exceeding ARK Invest's $5.6 billion estimate for on-chain revenue, a first since 2020.
Crypto hack losses have reached $8.78 billion in 2026, according to DefiLlama. That already tops ARK Invest's $5.6 billion estimate for on-chain revenue this year, a first since 2020. One attack drives most of that tally.
Even so, decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols lost 58% more in 2026 than in all of 2025. Over the same stretch, ARK's on-chain revenue estimate fell well below last year's total.
Binance Hack Dominates Losses
The October 29 Binance hack, worth $6.36 billion, accounts for about 72% of 2026's total. The FBI attributed it to North Korea's TraderTraitor hacking group. Binance says it has covered about 98% of the stolen funds from its own reserves.
Remove Binance, and 2026 losses fall to about $2.42 billion. That sits below 2025's $2.72 billion, despite 342 logged incidents versus 148.
Since 2017, crypto has lost $26.9B to hacks and earned $47B in on-chain revenue. That means 57 cents has been stolen for every dollar the industry has earned on-chain. The Binance hack alone ($6.36B) wiped out more than all of 2026's on-chain revenue.
DeFi Losses Climb While Revenue Thins
The ex-Binance total looks calm, but DeFi protocols moved the other way. They lost $1.19 billion across 243 incidents, up from $757 million in 2025.
Solana (SOL) based trading platform Drift lost $295 million in April. Liquid restaking protocol Kelp DAO lost $293 million that month. Both attacks were linked to North Korean hackers.
Meanwhile, ARK's 2026 revenue estimate sits well below 2025's $8.9 billion. Hacks last beat revenue in 2020, when hackers took $4 billion against $1 billion in on-chain revenue. Revenue jumped to $12.5 billion the following year and stayed ahead of hack losses through 2025.
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