July emerged as the second-worst month of 2026 for cryptocurrency thefts, largely due to the recent Coldcard exploit.
Hackers stole $247.4 million in crypto in July, the most this year after the $644 million stolen in April, according to DefiLlama data. The total was more than triple the $75 million stolen in June and the $60 million stolen in May.
The Coldcard exploit was the month‘s biggest exploit, with at least $100 million in Bitcoin (BTC) stolen from 7,300 wallets across three confirmed attack waves, according to Galaxy Digital. The company also identified a suspected fourth wave that could bring total losses to about $130 million. DefiLlama’s hack tracker estimates losses tied to the Coldcard exploit at $115 million.
“July showed that even cold storage does not eliminate technological risks, which can put thousands of wallets at risk simultaneously,” research platform CryptoRank said in a Thursday X post.
Other notable July exploits included a $9 million hack against decentralized finance protocol Bonzo Lend, $2.6 million stolen from Cardano-based wallet SecondFi, $24 million stolen from Arbitrum-based perpetual exchange AFX and $7.5 million stolen through the Verus Ethereum Bridge.