Crypto Hack Losses Fall to $68.3 Million in May

Overview

• Blockchain security firm CertiK reported total losses from hacks and exploits fell to about $68.3 million in May, a near 90% drop from roughly $650 million in April.
• The largest May incidents were an $11.5 million exploit of Verus Protocol’s cross‑chain bridge and a roughly $10.1 million attack on THORChain, together accounting for more than $21 million in losses.
• CertiK found protocol code flaws caused roughly $45 million in damages, representing about two thirds of May’s total, while cross‑chain bridge exploits made up roughly $28.6 million or 42% of losses.
• Wallet and private‑key compromises accounted for about $13.7 million in losses and DeFiLlama logged 29 security incidents in May, seven of which involved compromised private keys.
• Security firms recommend practical defenses such as verifying smart contracts and sites, using cold wallets to limit private‑key exposure, and hardening developer tooling to guard against AI‑assisted supply‑chain attacks.