Crypto hack losses equal 57 cents per $1 earned onchain: Ark’s Valente

Crypto hackers stole $8.7 billion so far in 2026, surpassing the projected annual onchain revenue generated across the industry, according to ARK’s research director.

Hackers stole 57 cents for every $1 earned onchain by blockchain protocols since 2017, according to Lorenzo Valente, director of digital asset research at ARK Investment Management.

“Security is the bottleneck,” wrote Valente in a Thursday X post, sharing a chart showing that $8.7 billion lost to crypto hacks year to date had already surpassed the $5.6 billion in estimated annual onchain revenue for 2026.

Since 2017, the crypto industry has lost about $26.9 billion to hacks and earned $47 billion in total onchain revenue, he added.

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