In March 2026, the crypto industry experienced 20 major hacks and exploits with total losses of approximately $52 million.
According to PeckShield, this represents a 96% increase from February, when losses amounted to $26.5 million.
The largest incident was the attack on the Resolv Labs protocol. A hacker gained access to AWS Key Management Service (KMS), enabling an “infinite mint” that created approximately 80 million unbacked USR tokens. Direct losses are estimated at $25 million.
After USR collapsed 80%, a “shadow contagion” followed. Secondary losses emerged in related DeFi protocols—Morpho Blue, Euler, and Fluid—due to accumulated bad debt.
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Other Notable Incidents
Among other events, a combined attack on Venus Protocol involving the THE token created $2.18 million in bad debt. The platform paused borrowing and THE withdrawals and set collateral factors to zero for several assets.
Beyond technical exploits, physical and social attacks increased in March. A user under the handle Sillytuna lost approximately $24 million in an armed attack involving kidnapping threats. Another Kraken client lost roughly $18 million to targeted social engineering.
Market Response and Outlook
Total crypto industry losses for the first quarter of 2026 exceeded $164 million. Experts note a rise in hybrid attacks that combine technical vulnerabilities with physical force and social engineering.
These incidents highlight the persistent vulnerability of DeFi protocols. They also underscore the need for stronger security measures at both the project level and among large asset holders.
PeckShield and other analytics firms expect the number and complexity of attacks to continue rising in the coming months.
Related: Ethereum Handles Quantum Threat Better Than Bitcoin, Analyst Argues
