Crypto Hacks Reach 277 Incidents as 2026 Losses Near $1.84 Billion
The tally stood at 250 incidents and about $1.4 billion through Sept. 8. Bitget’s $388 million breach remains the year’s largest listed attack.
Crypto-hacking incidents rose to 277 through Sept. 27, with recorded losses nearing $1.84 billion as major exchange and infrastructure breaches continued to drive damage in 2026.
The tally stood at 250 incidents and approximately $1.4 billion in losses through Sept. 8. The records show more incidents in 2026 so far, while losses remain below the 2025 total of 148 incidents and approximately $2.715 billion.
Bitget’s Sept. 24 breach remains the year’s largest listed incident, with the exchange’s final estimate reaching approximately $388 million. The attack affected hot and warm wallets after attackers obtained internal access credentials and inserted forged withdrawal commands. Cold wallets and private keys were not compromised.
The breach occurred at 2:31 p.m. ET (18:31 UTC). Bitget initially estimated the affected amount at $351.6 million before revising it to approximately $387.5 million and later rounding the figure to $388 million. Bitget CEO Gracy Chen said, “The Protection Fund was created for moments like this and absorbed the financial impact of the incident.”
A separate Liquid Network exploit on Sept. 6 involved approximately 4,000 unbacked LBTC, or Liquid’s Bitcoin-linked asset. The attacker used the network’s peg-out process to withdraw approximately 4,000 Bitcoin (BTC) after exploiting an Elements software flaw.
The incident was confirmed at 9:53 a.m. ET (13:53 UTC). The flaw allowed a transaction output to pass validation without being backed by its inputs. Approximately 3,400 BTC was returned on Sept. 7 at 12:09 p.m. ET (16:09 UTC), leaving about 602 BTC outstanding.
Of the 250 incidents recorded through Sept. 8, 26 involved bridges or cross-chain infrastructure. The broader tally includes protocol-logic flaws, access-control failures, private-key compromises, governance attacks and centralized-exchange incidents.
The second quarter produced 99 exploits, while the first half of 2026 recorded more than 140 exploits and over $1 billion in stolen value. The historical total across the records stands at approximately $21.061 billion.
Large breaches, including the Bitget and Liquid incidents, materially affect the year’s total. The final 2026 figure will depend on incidents recorded during the remainder of the year.
