Cybercriminals continue to target the cryptocurrency industry, this time with an exploit that affected the Balancer decentralized finance platform, with total losses exceeding $100 million and involving several exchanges that use the software across multiple chains. Some of the money was recovered, but over $90 million has been converted to Ethereum by the criminals, likely as part of their laundering process.

This is the worst year ever for crypto hacks, with billions in losses so far. I specifically predicted that crypto was to be a big target in my 2025 Cybersecurity Predictions (you can find them here: https://matthewrosenquist.substack.com/p/10-cybersecurity-predictions-for or https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/10-cybersecurity-predictions-2025-matthew-rosenquist-ejy4c ) and this trend will hold true for 2026. The simple fact is that crypto is growing in users, total value – market cap is over $3 trillion, and innovative financial instrument use-cases.

Cybercriminals are attracted to money and their efforts to locate and exploit vulnerabilities can result in a windfall of money. I am drafting my 2026 Cybersecurity Predictions and I can already see how various vectors are converging on continued targeting and theft of cryptocurrency properties. Users and investors in this space should apply caution and make sure the services they are dealing with employ mature cybersecurity practices and are trustworthy!

Stay tuned for my full 2026 Cybersecurity Predictions! Follow me on LinkedIn and Substack to be notified when they are published.