Alephium

Uniswap

Verus

THORChain

Gravity

Losses from exploits of crypto platforms fell to $68.3 million in May, down almost 90% from the $650 million lost in April, says crypto security company CertiK.
“After a particularly bad April, May is now the third month of 2026 to record losses under [$100 million],” CertiK <a href="https://x.com/CertiKAlert/status/2061055092686758378" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">posted</a> to X on Sunday.&nbsp;
Around $2.6 million of the total crypto stolen in May was due to phishing attacks, while roughly $9.4 million was recovered or returned, it added.
Excluding the $1.5 billion hack on Bybit in February 2025, April saw the highest losses recorded in a month since March 2022, with the largest loss that month coming from a $291 million exploit of Kelp DAO.
An exploit of <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/verus-ethereum-bridge-reportedly-exploited-for-millions" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Verus Protocol’s</a> cross-chain bridge on May 18 was the largest in terms of losses last month, with $11.5 million stolen. THORChain was second after <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/thorchain-halts-trading-zachxbt-flags-10m-exploit" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">an exploit</a> in mid-May saw $10.1 million stolen from the protocol.
Code vulnerabilities were the category with the highest value of losses over the month, with about 66% of the total, or around $45 million lost. Wallet or private key compromises were the second-most costly, with $13.7 million stolen.
Cross-chain bridges were the most targeted, with $28.6 million, or 42% of the total monthly losses, followed by decentralized finance protocols.&nbsp;
<img alt="Crypto exploit losses in May fall 90% over month to $68M: CertiK" height="1632" src="https://s3-images.ctmedia.io/media/content/pasted-image-170.jpeg" width="1056">Crypto exploit losses in May reached $68.3 million. Source: <a href="https://x.com/CertiKAlert/status/2061055092686758378" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CertiK </a>
Related: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/scammers-make-400k-through-fake-uniswap-ads-on-google" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Scammers make $400K through fake Uniswap ads on Google</a>
DeFiLlama data <a href="https://defillama.com/hacks" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">shows</a> that there were 29 incidents in May, seven of which involved compromised private keys.
The latest two incidents, reported on May 30, were the Alephium Bridge and Gravity Bridge, which were respectively exploited for $815,000 and $5.4 million due to compromised private keys.
Malware developed with artificial intelligence assistance has also been on the rise as malicious actors targeted crypto and AI developers in May by compromising <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/github-warns-of-unauthorized-access-to-internal-repositories" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">code repos</a> and <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/coordinated-crypto-stealer-campaign-trapdoor-detected-targeting-developers" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">tricking AI coding assistants</a>.
Magazine: <a href="https://cointelegraph-magazine.com/hyperliquid-hype-bitcoin-ethereum-xrp-market-moves/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">HYPE chases $100 target, ETH could dump below $1800: Market Moves</a>

Crypto exploit losses in May fall 90% over month to $68M: CertiK

Cointelegraph

Other articles published on Jun 1, 2026

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