Crypto has lost $26.9 billion to hacks since 2017 while earning $47 billion in revenue, according to ARK Invest's Lorenzo Valente. The $6.3 billion stolen from Binance at the end of October pushed 2026 losses above this year's estimated revenue.
Crypto has lost $26.9 billion to hacks since 2017 while earning $47 billion in on-chain revenue, which works out to 57 cents stolen for every dollar made. The data comes from Lorenzo Valente, director of research at ARK Invest, who pointed out that security has so far been a costly weakness for the industry.
Binance hack pushes 2026 losses above revenue
Valente's analysis compared revenue data from Token Terminal covering 27 of the largest crypto projects with hack losses tracked by DefiLlama from 2017 to date. Annual figures showed on-chain revenue was generally higher than theft between 2021 and 2025.
Between 2018 and 2020, however, more value was lost to hacks than crypto projects earned. 2020 was the worst year, as the industry made about $1 billion but lost $4 billion to attackers.
Losses and revenue year by year
Per the data, crypto generated $12.5 billion in 2021, while hackers stole about $2.9 billion. In 2023, on-chain revenue dipped to about $4.6 billion, and losses to hacks dropped to $1.6 billion, the lowest since 2021.
Losses then rose by about $100 million to $1.7 billion the following year, but crypto revenue climbed to around $9 billion. In 2025, the industry earned about $8.9 billion, and $2.7 billion was lost to theft.
2026 is the worst year for losses
Yet 2026 has so far been the worst year on record for losses. Hackers have made off with $8.7 billion, and the $6.3 billion stolen from Binance at the end of October makes up the bulk of that amount.
According to Valente, the Binance theft also wiped out this year's on-chain revenue, estimated to come in at around $5.6 billion.
Source: CryptoPotato
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