Crypto hack losses reached $8.78 billion in 2026, surpassing ARK Invest's $5.6 billion estimate for on-chain revenue this year. This marks the first time since 2020 that theft losses have exceeded on-chain earnings.
The October 29 Binance hack accounts for $6.36 billion of that total, or about 72% of 2026's losses. The FBI attributed the breach to North Korea's TraderTraitor hacking group. Binance said it has covered approximately 98% of the stolen funds from its own reserves.
Removing the Binance hack from the calculation, 2026 losses fall to $2.42 billion, which sits below 2025's $2.72 billion total despite 342 logged incidents compared to 148 the prior year.
DeFi protocols moved in the opposite direction. They lost $1.19 billion across 243 incidents in 2026, up from $757 million in 2025. Solana-based trading platform Drift Protocol lost $295 million in April. Liquid restaking protocol Kelp DAO lost $293 million that same month. Both attacks were linked to North Korean hackers.
ARK Invest's 2026 revenue estimate sits well below 2025's $8.9 billion. Since 2017, crypto has lost $26.9 billion to hacks while earning $47 billion on-chain, meaning 57 cents has been stolen for every dollar earned. Hacks last exceeded on-chain revenue in 2020, when the industry lost $4 billion against $1 billion in earnings.