Ethereum, Solana led crypto hack losses in H1 2026: Blockaid
Reported by Cointelegraph · AI-assisted summary by ChikoCorp AI News Desk
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Summary
In the first half of 2026, crypto losses due to security breaches surpassed $1 billion, marking the highest number of hacks within a six-month period, according to Blockaid, an onchain security platform. The two networks hit hardest were Ethereum and Solana, which experienced roughly $332 million and $326 million in stolen funds, respectively. Blockaid’s H1 2026 security report documented 212 security incidents, with the largest exploit being a $292 million theft from KelpDAO. The report also noted a 3.4-fold increase in high-threshold exploits compared to the entire year of 2025.
Ethereum's losses were primarily caused by code exploits targeting vulnerabilities in applications built on its network. Most incidents involved bugs in bridges and smart contracts, unauthorized access to privileged accounts, and market manipulation techniques. Major losses on Ethereum were also linked to key compromises affecting projects such as Humanity Protocol and StablR. The only significant Ethereum incident attributed to user error was at CoWSwap, a decentralized exchange.
Why it matters
In contrast, Solana’s sharp increase in losses—from about $127 million in 2025 to $326 million in H1 2026—was not due to smart contract exploits but mainly stemmed from compromised keys and signing infrastructure. Over 98% of Solana’s losses were attributed to such breaches, with major incidents involving Drift Protocol and Step Finance. Blockaid connected these attacks to North Korea-linked cyber threat groups, highlighting a shift in attacker focus from protocol code vulnerabilities to organizational security weaknesses.
Blockaid’s CEO Ido Ben-Natan contextualized these developments by noting that in 2025, total losses across 63 incidents amounted to $2.58 billion, heavily influenced by a $1.5 billion hack of Bybit. Ethereum and Arbitrum were previously the top chains impacted by stolen funds. The report underscores Ethereum’s continued risk exposure due to hosting many of the crypto industry’s most valuable applications, while Solana’s increasing losses reflect a growing threat to its key management and infrastructure security.