Crypto hacks reach $630M for April 2026 as KelpDAO and Drift breach DeFi bridges
Crypto hacks for April 2026 reach around US$630M, di highest monthly since Feb 2025 and the worst theft month in 14 months. Security firms CertiK, PeckShield and DeFiLlama confirm the range, estimated about US$630–651M depending how you count incidents.
Two DeFi attacks carry most losses. KelpDAO on Ethereum lose about US$293M after 18 April exploit of LayerZero cross-chain bridge; dem pause contracts afterwards. Drift Protocol on Solana lose about US$280M after attacker get admin key. Together KelpDAO and Drift make more than 90% of April crypto hacks.
For traders, this na short-term risk signal for DeFi infrastructure and cross-chain bridge security. Crypto hacks like this fit pressure sentiment, make people look closer at smart-contract and collateral reliability, and increase chance of short-term volatility as markets reprice counterparty risk across ETH and BTC-linked flows.
Bearish
Di updated report show say April crypto hacks no scatter for market—two incidents cause over 90% of di losses. Dis concentration fit increase di chance say dem go de-risk quick: liquidity providers fit widen spreads, lending platforms fit tighten collateral and bridge assumptions, and traders fit reduce exposure to DeFi positions wey linked to ETH/SOL.
For short term, headlines about bridge and smart-contract compromise dey raise perceived counterparty risk, wey fit weigh down prices and trigger volatility round ETH and SOL ecosystems. For long term, di size ($630M–$651M) and di “DeFi-only” framing (depending on how firms count incidents) fit speed up security upgrades and monitoring, but until mitigations show say dem work, market sentiment likely go remain cautious. Overall, dis one bearish for di traded assets wey directly tied to di affected DeFi and cross-chain rails (ETH, SOL, and related BTC-flow narratives).