Crypto Hacks Surge in August as 50 Attacks Steal $136M

Crypto security incidents increased sharply in August 2026, with 50 major hacks recorded across the industry and approximately $136.3 million stolen, according to PeckShieldAlert.

The number of major incidents rose 67% from July, when the security firm recorded 30 attacks. However, the total amount stolen fell significantly from the roughly $270 million lost in July.

The figures paint a mixed picture for crypto security. While the industry suffered substantially less financial damage month over month, the number of major attacks increased considerably.

TectonicFi Hack Accounts for More Than Half of August Losses

The August figures were heavily influenced by a single major exploit.

TectonicFi lost approximately $74 million, accounting for more than half of the $136.3 million stolen across the industry during the month.

PeckShield ranked the incident as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency theft of 2026 so far, following major incidents involving Drift, KelpDAO/LayerZero and the COLDCARD wallet.

Related: Everything You Need to Know About the Coldcard Bitcoin Wallet Hack

However, the movement of the stolen funds appears to have been limited.

Most of the affected assets remained trapped within the ecosystem, while only around $6 million was reportedly bridged away before Cronos paused its chain.

The attacker subsequently began moving accessible funds, including transactions that shifted assets toward Bitcoin, according to PeckShield.

The scale of the TectonicFi exploit had a major effect on August's overall numbers. Without this single incident, the month's total losses would have been considerably lower.

Several Other Crypto Projects Suffered Exploits

Although TectonicFi dominated the month's losses, August saw several other notable crypto security incidents.

Moonwell lost roughly $8.7 million, while Termlabs suffered an $8.5 million loss. Coinsbuy and TAC recorded losses of approximately $7.9 million and $7.5 million, respectively.

Other projects also recorded multimillion-dollar losses.

Injective suffered approximately $4.8 million in losses, while MANTRA lost around $3.6 million. BounceBit, Cosmos Labs and Aquifer recorded losses of approximately $3 million, $2.87 million and $2.47 million, respectively.

The incidents span multiple projects, showing that the August security activity was not concentrated entirely around one protocol or ecosystem.

Related: Cronos Halts Blockchain After $75M Tectonic Exploit as DeFi Lending Protocol Gets Hit

Crypto Hacks Increased While Losses Fell

The most important detail in PeckShield's August data is the difference between the number of attacks and the amount stolen.

Major crypto security incidents increased from 30 in July to 50 in August, representing a 67% month-over-month increase.

At the same time, total losses declined from approximately $270 million to $136.3 million, a decrease of about 49.5%.

In other words, August brought more major attacks but lower aggregate financial losses.

That distinction is important when assessing the state of crypto security. A decline in the total amount stolen does not necessarily mean that the number of security threats has fallen.

Instead, August's data suggests that security incidents became more frequent, while the overall financial impact was lower than in the previous month.

August Highlights the Difference Between Frequency and Damage

The monthly numbers show two separate trends developing at the same time.

On one side, the industry experienced a significant reduction in the total value stolen. On the other hand, the number of major hacks rose sharply.

The $74 million TectonicFi exploit demonstrates how a single large incident can heavily influence monthly losses. Meanwhile, the collection of smaller attacks involving Moonwell, Termlabs, Coinsbuy, TAC and other projects contributed to the sharp increase in incident frequency.

This makes August's crypto hack data less straightforward than simply saying security losses decreased.

The industry lost less money than it did in July, but it faced a greater number of significant security incidents.

For investors and crypto users, the key takeaway from August is therefore the continued frequency of attacks rather than the lower monthly dollar figure alone.