Crypto Hacks Surpass $768 Million in Record-Breaking September

Security firms PeckShield and CertiK tracked the surge in illicit activity, noting that while their methodologies differ, the total stolen value converged near the $768 million mark. The Bitget breach on September 24 claimed the largest share, with the exchange confirming that roughly $387.5 million reached attacker-controlled addresses. Investigations by Mandiant and SlowMist revealed that unauthorized access was gained through compromised third-party security software, allowing attackers to manipulate wallet withdrawal commands across multiple networks including Ethereum, XRP Ledger, and Tron.

Simultaneously, the Liquid Network experienced a critical failure on September 6 when a bug in the Elements codebase permitted the creation of 4,000 unbacked L-BTC. The attacker successfully withdrew nearly 4,000 real Bitcoin before the vulnerability was patched. Unlike typical large-scale heists, this incident saw a partial resolution: following on-chain negotiations, the perpetrator returned 3,400 BTC to the protocol. Despite this recovery, security firms maintain the gross loss figures in their monthly tallies to reflect the vulnerability of the infrastructure involved.

Beyond these two primary incidents, the sector faced a barrage of smaller hacks, including notable losses at Safe Wallet, DCENT, and Duelbits. These events bring the cumulative total for 2026 to approximately $2.68 billion across 656 documented security incidents. As Bitget moves through a phased restoration of its withdrawal services and Liquid Network continues to audit its hardened proof-cache implementation, the industry remains on high alert regarding the fragility of third-party dependencies and core software validation processes.