Crypto hack losses jump 462% to $766.49 million in September

Crypto hack losses reached $766.49 million in September 2026, the year's highest monthly total, according to PeckShield. The total rose about 462% from August's $136.3 million. September's losses exceeded April's $646.89 million, the previous monthly high. Bitget lost roughly $387 million, making its breach the year's biggest theft. Liquid Network lost about $320 million, though the people behind the incident claimed to be white hats and later returned most of it. The Bitget and Liquid Network incidents accounted for $707 million, or about 92% of September's total. PeckShield counted 55 incidents in September, up from August's then-record 50 major hacks. The other 53 September incidents cost roughly $59 million combined. Both major breaches exceeded the Drift and KelpDAO exploits that had led the 2026 tally before September. Liquid Network has since had 3,400 BTC returned. Funds also came back after a $7.81 million maximal extractable value bot front-run. Payment Processor V2 had $3.4 million returned from a $6.6 million loss. Crypto casino Duelbits lost $7 million. The Nostra oracle exploit cost $3.5 million. Bitget brought in blockchain security firm SlowMist to investigate the theft from its hot wallets. SlowMist's progress report, current as of September 29, found that the compromise began weeks before funds left. SlowMist dated the earliest malicious activity to August 31. SlowMist found that an attacker exploited a previously unknown flaw in a third-party security product. Investigators also recovered a custom withdrawal tool from files the attacker had deleted. SlowMist has not named a culprit. Bitget CEO Gracy Chen had previously pointed to suspected North Korean hackers.