Crypto Hacks Surge 67% in August While Total Losses Drop Nearly Half

Blockchain security firm PeckShield reported a sharp increase in the number of crypto hacks during August, with 50 major incidents recorded – a 67% jump from the 30 incidents logged in July. Despite the higher incident count, the estimated total loss fell to $136.3 million, down 49.5% from July’s roughly $270 million.

Dominant loss from a single exploit

The Tectonic lending protocol on the Cronos network accounted for more than half of August’s estimated losses, with roughly $74 million stolen. The exploit involved manipulation of collateral pricing, allowing the attacker to borrow assets worth the reported amount.

Other notable incidents

• Moonwell – $8.7 million
• Term Labs – $8.5 million
• Coinsbuy – $7.9 million
• TAC – $7.5 million
• Injective – $4.8 million
• MANTRA – $3.6 million
• BounceBit – $3.0 million
• Cosmos Labs – $2.87 million
• Aquifer – $2.47 million

Cronos network response

After detecting the Tectonic exploit, Cronos validators halted block production, preventing further asset movement. Approximately $6 million had already been transferred to Ethereum before the halt. Validators later restored the chain to a pre‑exploit snapshot, restarting blocks at 23:49:01 UTC from block 90,896,189 using version 1.7.8.

Broader context

A CoinGecko study covering January 2025 to July 2026 found $3.63 billion lost across 245 incidents, with the ten largest attacks representing over 72.5% of total losses. PeckShield classified the Tectonic breach as the fourth‑largest theft of 2026, behind incidents involving Drift, KelpDAO, LayerZero and hardware‑wallet maker Coldcard.

Outlook

Both Cronos and Tectonic have pledged full post‑incident reports, though timelines remain unspecified. Recovery efforts focus on assets remaining on Cronos and potential restrictions on cross‑chain transfers. PeckShield cautions that its figures are estimates and may change as projects investigate, freeze, or recover funds.