Cryptocurrency platforms experienced a significant decrease in attack-related losses in May, according to data from CertiK reported by Cointelegraph. Losses fell to $68.3 million, marking a nearly 90% decline from April's $650 million. May became the third month in 2026 with losses under $100 million.
Approximately $2.6 million of the losses were due to phishing attacks, while around $9.4 million in stolen funds were recovered or returned. The largest single loss in May was from an attack on the Verus Protocol cross-chain bridge, resulting in a $11.5 million theft. THORChain ranked second with a $10.1 million loss.
Code vulnerabilities accounted for the highest losses, totaling about $45 million, or 66% of the total. Wallet or private key leaks led to $13.7 million in losses. Cross-chain bridges were the primary targets, suffering $28.6 million in losses, which represented 42% of the total. According to DeFiLlama data, there were 29 incidents in May, with seven involving private key leaks.