$112.5 Million Stolen in Just 60 Days
2026 has barely begun and the crypto market has already accumulated significant losses from hacker attacks and scams. In January and February, 31 security incidents resulted in losses of $112.5 million. January was the heaviest month with $86 million lost across 16 incidents, a 13.25% increase over December 2025. February brought relative relief with $26.5 million across 15 incidents.
The Biggest January Attacks
Step Finance was hit hardest, losing $28.9 million. Truebit followed with $26.4 million drained through a smart contract flaw. SwapNet lost $13.3 million, Saga $7 million, and Makina Finance $4.13 million (with $2.7 million recovered by white hat hackers).
February: Governance and Bridges Targeted
YieldBlox DAO suffered a $10 million governance exploit. The IoTeX bridge lost $8.8 million. CrossCurve ($4.95M), FOOM Cash ($2.26M), and Moonwell ($1.8M) completed the list.
Phishing Surges 1,400%: The New Weapon
The most alarming finding is phishing's 1,400% year-over-year surge. January 2026 phishing losses alone hit $300 million. Throughout 2025, the total reached $713 million with 158,000 personal wallet theft incidents affecting over 80,000 unique victims. Methods include fake wallet interfaces, infostealer malware, and AI-generated deepfakes.
Social Engineering Overtakes Code Exploits
Social engineering has surpassed technical code exploits as the dominant theft vector in crypto. Criminals are investing more in psychological manipulation than programming skills. Pig butchering scams, token rug pulls, and AI-powered personalized phishing campaigns continue to grow.
How to Stay Safe
- Manually verify URLs before connecting wallets
- Use hardware wallets for significant holdings
- Never share seed phrases under any circumstances
- Be skeptical of guaranteed returns or urgency pressure
- Enable two-factor authentication with authenticator apps
- Keep all software updated
The 2026 crypto security landscape makes clear that the greatest vulnerability isn't in the code but in human behavior.