Cryptocurrency hackers have plundered $8.7 billion throughout 2026 so far, outstripping the anticipated yearly onchain income generated by the sector, as stated by an ARK research director.
Since 2017, malicious actors have stolen 57 cents for each individual dollar acquired onchain by blockchain networks, pointing out Lorenzo Valente, who serves as the director of digital asset research at ARK Investment Management.
Valente stated in a social media update on Thursday via X that security serves as the primary bottleneck, while sharing a graphic demonstrating that the $8.7 billion lost to digital asset thefts year to date has already outpaced the projected annual onchain revenue of $5.6 billion for 2026.
He further noted that since 2017, the digital asset ecosystem has surrendered approximately $26.9 billion to security breaches and attacks while accumulating $47 billion in aggregate onchain earnings.
The single recent $6.3 billion theft from the Binance breach surpassed Valente’s full-year projection for 2026 onchain revenue by itself. The value taken by attackers is currently on trajectory to surpass total onchain revenue before the conclusion of the year for the initial occasion since 2020.
The digital asset sector experienced a series of high-value exploits during this year, which featured the September $387 million Bitget breach, the $320 million Liquid Network protocol exploit, alongside an April incident involving a $295 million Drift Protocol attack.
These escalating security vulnerabilities are placing pressure on institutional enthusiasm for decentralized finance. JPMorgan analysts pointed out in an April research publication that bridge security remains a persistent obstacle for the sector.
The aggregate value locked across decentralized finance platforms has declined by nearly 10% following the Binance incident, dropping from $85.9 billion on October 29 down to $77.4 billion on Thursday, according to tracking data from DefiLlama.
Originally published at https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-hackers-stole-57-cents-every-1-earned-ark?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound.
