ARK Invest: losses in the crypto industry from hacks reached $26.9 billion since 2017

Lorenzo Valente, Head of Digital Assets Research at ARK Invest, estimated the losses of the crypto industry from hacks since 2017 at $26.9 billion. During the same period, the total revenue of blockchain projects from network operations, according to his calculations, amounted to about $47 billion. Thus, for every $1 of such revenue, there is approximately $0.57 in damage from cyberattacks. Valente presented the estimate on November 11, 2026.

Binance Hack Accounted for Most of 2026 Losses

According to the analyst, since the beginning of the year, hackers have stolen crypto assets worth approximately $8.7 billion. About $6.36 billion of this amount was due to the attack on Binance on October 29. The analytical company TRM Labs found that funds were withdrawn from the exchange's wallets across ten blockchains, with the main part of the transfers taking about 20 minutes.

Binance itself estimated the consequences of the incident at approximately $6.3 billion. The exchange stated that it would cover the shortfall using its own funds and the SAFU fund. As of November 3, the company reported restoring 98% of the affected tokens, but this does not mean the stolen assets have been returned from the perpetrators.

Damage from Attacks Exceeded Revenue Estimate for the Year

ARK Invest estimates the revenue of blockchain projects for the entire year of 2026 at approximately $5.6 billion. This is less than the losses from a single Binance hack and the industry's total damage since the beginning of the year. The revenue figure includes a forecast for the remainder of the year, while the losses reflect already identified incidents.

Valente called security one of the key constraints on the development of the crypto industry. However, the ratio of $0.57 to $1 does not mean that hackers stole exactly 57% of the money earned by projects: the calculation compares two different aggregate figures with unequal market participant coverage. Additionally, some of the stolen assets are later blocked or returned, so the initial size of the thefts does not equal the final losses.