Crypto hack losses hit $1.26 billion in the third quarter of 2026, CertiK told CoinDesk on Thursday, October 1. We saw the security firm count 247 incidents from July through September. Our sources put the year-to-date total at $2.68 billion across 656 cases.
Losses rose 53.9 percent from $819.4 million in the second quarter. The incident count rose about 13 percent, from 219 to 247. September alone took about $768.5 million in 99 incidents, the worst month of 2026 on CertiK’s sheet.
Bitget’s hot-wallet breach on September 24 was the largest case, about $387.5 million, roughly 31 percent of the quarter. Liquid Network’s September 6 exploit ranked next at about $319 million. Tectonic was listed at $120 million and a Coldcard theft at $112.7 million.
September was a stark reminder of how quickly the threat landscape can shift.
With both losses and incident count reaching their highest levels of 2026, the month’s data reinforces the need for security across every layer.
Full breakdown below ↓ https://t.co/VGe1ZoLWm3
— CertiK (@CertiK) September 30, 2026
Crypto Hack Losses Led by Bitget and Liquid
CertiK said about $273 million was frozen or sent back in September, which cuts the net loss for that month to about $495 million. PeckShield’s September count was close on money, $766.5 million, but narrower on cases, 55 major hacks. The two firms do not use the same list, so the headline figure can shift by a few million.
Liquid’s attacker later returned a large slice, including reports of 3,400 bitcoin after a bug minted unbacked L-BTC. Bitget said it spotted unauthorized moves from hot wallets and paused withdrawals. Neither firm published a full recovery total for the whole quarter.
“Yes, it is bad optics,” Nicolai Sondergaard, senior research analyst at Nansen, told CoinDesk. ETF money was still flowing while theft headlines stacked up. Price and security moved in opposite directions.
Top Crypto Prices on October 1
- Bitcoin (BTC) about $83,912
- Ether (ETH) about $2,697
- XRP about $1.49
- Dogecoin (DOGE) about $0.095
- Cardano (ADA) about $0.25
- Chainlink (LINK) about $14.38
- Tron (TRX) about $0.33
- Monero (XMR) about $539
Those marks are board prices pulled from Cointelegraph’s October 1 tape, not a closing auction. Bitcoin’s quarter was strong on the price chart even as hack losses jumped. A higher coin price also makes each stolen unit worth more in dollar terms, which inflates the loss table.
For holders, the useful split is gross loss versus money returned. September’s $768 million is the scare number. The net, after freezes and returns, is closer to $495 million on CertiK’s own note. Insurance cover for exchanges remains small next to a single hot-wallet hit of this size.
Read the tally on CoinDesk. A headline loss is not the same as cash still in attacker wallets. Watch October’s first CertiK update before treating $1.26 billion as the final net figure for the quarter.
