Crypto Hack Losses Hit $750M+ in 2026 as North Korea Dominates Attacks

Crypto hack statistics for 2026 reveal escalating losses, with over $750 million stolen by April 19, driven by North Korean state-linked groups. April 2026 became the worst month on record, with $629.69 million drained, 95% from two Lazarus-linked attacks on Drift Protocol and KelpDAO. The Drift Protocol hack on April 1 saw $270–285 million stolen via a six-month social engineering campaign by UNC4736. The KelpDAO exploit on April 18 resulted in $292 million lost through a LayerZero bridge message spoofing, triggering a bank run on Aave that saw $6 billion in TVL exit. North Korean hackers accounted for 76% of all crypto stolen in 2026, with cumulative theft since 2017 surpassing $6 billion. Attack vectors shifted from code exploits to social engineering, which caused $290 million in Q1 2026 alone. Cross-chain bridges remain a structural weakness, with $2.9 billion in cumulative losses since 2022. The data comes from Chainalysis, DefiLlama, PeckShield, TRM Labs, and other sources.