Crypto Hacks Nearly Double in a Year as Bridges and Cross-Chain Infrastructure Get Breached

Crypto hacks have surged past 250 incidents this year, nearly doubling in frequency compared to a year ago. The growing concentration of attacks on bridges and cross-chain infrastructure—the systems responsible for moving assets between blockchains—is raising serious security concerns across the industry.

According to data from DefiLlama, a decentralized finance (DeFi) analytics platform, a total of 250 crypto hacks have occurred this year, with losses reaching approximately $1.4 billion (roughly 1.9 trillion won). While per-incident losses have declined compared to last year's 146 attacks that resulted in $2.7 billion stolen, the frequency of attacks has risen sharply.

Since the DeFi industry gained momentum in 2021, cumulative hack losses have reached $16.5 billion. Of this total, losses from DeFi protocols themselves account for $7.7 billion, while bridge-related losses total $2.9 billion.

The defining characteristic of this year's attacks is the shift in targets. According to DefiLlama, 26 of all hacks this year—more than 10%—occurred on bridges and cross-chain infrastructure that move tokens or information between different blockchains. Last year, only 3 attacks of this type were recorded.