Crypto losses drop 90% after April spike

Crypto exploit losses dropped sharply to $68.3 million in May, marking a nearly 90% decline from the $650 million lost during April, according to blockchain security firm CertiK.

The security company said May became the third month in 2026 to record crypto-related losses below $100 million following a period of elevated attacks earlier in the year.

“After a particularly bad April, May is now the third month of 2026 to record losses under $100 million,”

CertiK said.

The largest exploit in May targeted Verus Protocol's cross-chain bridge, resulting in losses of approximately $11.5 million, while THORChain suffered the second-largest incident with roughly $10.1 million stolen.

CertiK reported that around $9.4 million was recovered or returned during the month, while phishing attacks accounted for approximately $2.6 million of the total losses.

Code vulnerabilities remained the most expensive attack vector, responsible for roughly $45 million, or 66% of all losses, while compromised wallets and private keys contributed another $13.7 million.

Cross-chain bridges were the most frequently targeted infrastructure category, accounting for $28.6 million in losses, or about 42% of the monthly total, followed by decentralised finance protocols.

The report also highlighted growing concerns around AI-assisted malware, with attackers increasingly using artificial intelligence tools to compromise code repositories and manipulate AI coding assistants used by crypto and software developers.