Crypto Hack Losses Surpass On-Chain Revenue for First Time Since 2020

According to DefiLlama, crypto hack losses have hit $8.78 billion in 2026. That figure already exceeds ARK Invest's $5.6 billion projection for on-chain revenue this year, marking the first time that has happened since 2020.

A single breach accounts for the bulk of that sum. Still, decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols suffered 58% more in losses during 2026 than across all of 2025. Over the same period, ARK's on-chain revenue estimate dropped well below last year's total.

How One Exchange Breach Reshaped 2026's Crypto Hack Tally

ARK's Lorenzo Valente highlighted the comparison in a post on November 12. Since 2017, the crypto industry has lost $26.9 billion to hacks while generating $47 billion in on-chain revenue.

That equates to 57 cents stolen for every dollar earned, based on data from Token Terminal and DefiLlama. ARK's revenue figure encompasses the 27 largest projects along with all others.

Since 2017, crypto has lost $26.9B to hacks and earned $47B in on-chain revenue.

That means 57 cents has been stolen for every dollar the industry has earned on-chain.

The Binance hack alone ($6.36B) wiped out more than all of 2026’s on-chain revenue.

Security is the… pic.twitter.com/7r6g0TGBR2

— Lorenzo Valente (@LorenzoARK) November 11, 2026

The Binance hack on October 29, valued at $6.36 billion, represents roughly 72% of the 2026 total. The FBI has blamed the TraderTraitor hacking group from North Korea. Binance states it has recovered about 98% of the stolen assets from its own reserves.

Excluding Binance, 2026 losses amount to roughly $2.42 billion. That is below 2025's $2.72 billion, despite 342 recorded incidents compared with 148.

DeFi Losses Rise as Revenue Shrinks

Without Binance, the total looks relatively tame, but DeFi protocols moved in the opposite direction. They lost $1.19 billion across 243 incidents, up from $757 million in 2025.

The Solana (SOL) based trading platform Drift lost $295 million in April. Liquid restaking protocol Kelp DAO lost $293 million that same month.

Both incidents were tied to North Korean hackers. They were part of a series of DeFi exploits during the spring.

At the same time, ARK's 2026 revenue estimate is far below 2025's $8.9 billion. Some protocols channel a portion of that revenue into token buybacks. Those buybacks helped most tokens rewarding holders outperform Bitcoin (BTC) this year.

Hacks last exceeded revenue in 2020, when attackers took $4 billion against $1 billion in on-chain income. Revenue jumped to $12.5 billion the next year and remained ahead of hack losses through 2025.

Both sides of ARK's calculation could still shift. Revenue is annualized from the first three quarters, while hack figures run only through November 11.