Crypto Hacks and Exploits

A hack is unauthorised access to a system, such as an exchange’s servers or a person’s wallet keys. An exploit uses a flaw in software, often in a smart contract, to take funds the code was not meant to release. Stolen funds are then often moved through mixers, bridges and exchanges to hide where they came from, which is called laundering.

How to read this list. It shows reports, not verdicts. A story can be about a suspected incident, an old one, a court case or a recovery. Figures and claims belong to the outlet that made them, which is named on every row.

It is made automatically from two places: the stories live on this site (NewsDesk summaries and our Originals; press releases and other paid content are left out), and news headlines from across the web. A story is listed when its headline (or, for our own stories, the headline or standfirst) contains one of these words: hack, hacked, hacker, exploit, exploited, drained, drainer, stolen, steal, theft, data breach, security breach, rug pull, and also mentions crypto. Whole words only, so “hackathon” does not count. Laundering alone does not count, and fraud trials, scams, sentencing, robberies and product launches are left out unless they also say hack, exploit or drained. Headlines from across the web are also read by an AI model (Jev, from TypeSafe AI), which leaves out those that only mention a hack in passing, such as press releases and price tips.

No person picks the stories, so a match can be a false one and a relevant story can be missed. No amounts are taken from the text: open the story for its figures.