In the first quarter of 2026, there were more than 80 cyber attacks in the encryption industry, doubling year-on-year

AML/KYT provider Shard disclosed that the number of cyber attacks in the encryption industry doubled year-on-year to more than 80 in the first quarter of 2026, but total losses fell 69% year-on-year to US$496 million, compared with US$1.6 billion in the same period last year. Shard said that losses in the same period in 2025 were mainly affected by a major theft of approximately US$1.4 billion in Bybit; while attacks in 2026 were more scattered, targeting DeFi protocols, Infrastructure services and individual users. Looking at months, a total of 29 attacks occurred in January, with losses exceeding US$392 million; 26 attacks occurred in February, with losses exceeding US$22 million; and 27 attacks occurred in March, with losses exceeding US$81 million.