Chainalysis: Malicious Instructions in Blockchain Transactions Up 440% Year-Over-Year
- —Malicious instructions in blockchain transactions rose 440% year-over-year, from 2 to 11 cases per day
- —$1.32 billion was stolen in 344 incidents in H1 2026, according to CertiK
- —The largest attacks: KelpDAO (~$292 million) and Drift Protocol (~$285 million), linked to North Korea
- —Flash attacks on Coldcard resulted in about 2,055 BTC (~$130 million) stolen from 7,300 addresses
Why it matters: AI has lowered the cost of finding vulnerabilities, leading to more attacks on protocols and wallets; defense is getting more expensive, and risks for holders are rising.
Source: The Bitcoin Manual