Crypto Hacks Hit 2026 Record With 50 Attacks as Losses Fall 49% to $136M

Crypto suffered its busiest hacking month of 2026 in August, but the explosion in attack frequency did not translate into record financial damage.

Blockchain security firm PeckShield counted 50 major crypto hacks during August, up 67% from 30 incidents in July and the highest monthly total this year. Yet combined losses fell 49.5% month over month to approximately $136.3 million, according to data published Sept. 1.

The contrast suggests attackers succeeded more often but generally walked away with smaller amounts. Average losses dropped to roughly $2.7 million per incident, compared with about $9 million during July.

That makes August unusual: it was the year's worst month by number of major hacks, but nowhere near the costliest by dollars stolen.

Tectonic Accounts for More Than Half of August Losses

One exploit dominated the monthly total.

Tectonic, the largest lending protocol on Cronos, reportedly lost around $74 million, accounting for more than half of all crypto losses recorded during August. The incident ranks as the fourth-largest crypto theft of 2026 so far.

The attacker managed to move only around $6 million to Ethereum before Cronos validators froze the network. Cronos later restored the chain to a state before the attack and resumed block production, limiting the exploiter's ability to move more of the stolen assets.