Key Highlights
- April 2026 recorded $629.69 million in crypto losses, the highest ever in a single month, according to DeFiLlama.
- DeFi protocols accounted for $614.17 million of total losses, dominating the attack landscape.
- Two major exploits, including KelpDAO and Drift Protocol, contributed to nearly 95% of total losses.
Crypto protocol hacks resulted in losses of roughly $629.69 million in April 2026, based on the data collected by DefiLlama, making it the most destructive month in terms of hack activity in the industry’s history.
The data from DefiLlama provides insight into the scale of the losses: a total of $629.69 million was hacked, of which $614.17 million belonged to DeFi protocol hacks, while only $3.13 million was lost due to bridge hacking.
The bar chart shows the amount per month, making clear that in one single month, the losses exceeded those recorded during the entire first quarter of 2026.
The majority of losses were concentrated in a few large exploits. According to the data, two major incidents, along with several smaller attacks, accounted for most of the total. Projects such as KelpDAO (around $293 million) and Drift Protocol contributed significantly, with combined losses estimated at roughly $606–$623 million in earlier reports, close to 95% of the monthly total.
Largest crypto hack of the year
The largest hack of the year so far is attributed to the KelpDAO attack, which happened on April 18 and was responsible for sweeping around $285 million. In the history of decentralized finance, the Kelp DAO attack comes in third position, followed by the Binance BNB Bridge ($570M) in October 2022 and Poly Network ($611M) in August 2021.
Groups linked to North Korea, such as Lazarus Group, have been associated with some of these large-scale incidents, often using a mix of social engineering and protocol interaction rather than direct code exploits.
April also set a record for the number of attacks, with more than 20–24 incidents reported—significantly higher than in previous months. Smaller exploits were also common toward the end of the month, including incidents involving Aftermath Perps (about $1.14 million) and Sweat Foundation (around $3.5 million), among others.
Scope for improvements
Moving forward, April 2026 may see increased momentum toward improvements in the sector.
There is likely to be increased focus on stronger security measures, more frequent audits, improved contract validation, and better incident response processes. Some projects may also adopt insurance-backed protections or AI-driven monitoring systems.
For investors, the events highlight the importance of assessing security practices when interacting with DeFi protocols.
April 2026 stands out as one of the most significant months for crypto security incidents, underscoring ongoing challenges in balancing rapid innovation with robust protection measures.
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