Crime & Security2 min readThe AssayerLook-back
Exchanges’ share of crypto hack losses has risen every year since 2020, from 7.8% to 77.8%
In 2020, centralised exchanges accounted for 7.8% of the money lost to crypto hacks and thefts, according to the Bitminer.io failures ledger. Every year since, that share has gone up: 13.8% in 2021, 16% in 2022, 20.6% in 2023, 43.7% in 2024 and 69.6% in 2025. So far in 2026 it stands at 77.8%.
It is not that exchanges are hacked more often. DeFi protocols have far more incidents every year, and exchanges had 12 in 2025 and 5 so far in 2026. What changed is the size of each loss.
Fewer, larger thefts
Exchange losses came to $310.9 million in 2020 and $335.5 million in 2023, across 16 incidents. In 2024 they reached $730.1 million across 13. In 2025 they reached $1.89 billion across 12, and in 2026 they have reached $6.82 billion across 5.
The two largest exchange losses in the ledger are both recent. Binance lost $6.36 billion in October 2026 and Bybit $1.40 billion in February 2025. The next two are much older: Coincheck’s $534 million in January 2018 and Mt. Gox’s $470 million in February 2014. After them come FTX with $450 million in November 2022, Bitget with $387 million in September 2026 and DMM Bitcoin with $305 million in May 2024.
Since the start of 2022, exchanges have lost $10.35 billion across 54 incidents. Leave out Binance’s 2026 loss and the figure is $3.99 billion.
People, not code
Exchange thefts rarely involve a flaw in a smart contract. They mostly start with a stolen key or a tricked employee. In 2024, key compromise or social engineering was behind 10 of the 13 exchange incidents in the ledger, and in 2023 behind 10 of 16.
Bybit’s signers approved a disguised transaction after attackers spoofed the interface they used. At DMM Bitcoin, an employee was compromised and legitimate transactions were hijacked. Binance’s loss is suspected to have started on a DevOps engineer’s laptop.
Hit twice
Three exchanges have been hit twice since 2024. BtcTurk lost $54 million in June 2024 and $48 million in August 2025. Bitget lost $100 million to an exploited trading bot in April 2025 and $387 million in September 2026. CoinDCX lost $44.2 million in July 2025 and $16 million in October 2026.
Sources
By The Assayer, the Bitminer.io house byline. Written by AI from the sources above and checked automatically. No person reviewed it before publication. How we work.
