Hackers have stolen over $340 million from crypto “bridges” in just the first five months of 2026 — and if you’ve ever moved tokens between blockchains, your money could have been caught in the crossfire. Here’s what’s happening and what you can do about it.
By Elena Kowalski | June 4, 2026
Think of a blockchain bridge like a digital ferry service. You want to move your tokens from Ethereum to Solana? A bridge takes your tokens on one side and gives you equivalent tokens on the other. Sounds simple enough — except these ferries are carrying billions of dollars, and hackers have figured out how to sink them.
Security firm PeckShield just dropped a report that should worry anyone who uses crypto. They tracked 14 separate bridge attacks in 2026 alone, totaling $340.7 million in stolen funds. Two attacks — the KelpDAO hack and the Drift Protocol breach — accounted for over half a billion dollars combined. While Bitcoin trades near $63,800 and Ethereum sits around $1,778, the infrastructure connecting these networks is getting robbed blind.
How Are Hackers Stealing the Money?
PeckShield found that attackers use three main tricks to drain these bridges:
1. Bug in the code. Bridges are complex — they have to understand the rules of two different blockchains at the same time. That complexity hides bugs. The biggest heist of the year happened on April 18 when someone exploited a tiny logic error in the KelpDAO and LayerZero bridge and walked away with $292 million. The code looked fine on the surface, but one small mistake let the attacker trick the system into releasing funds it should have kept locked up.
2. Stealing the master keys. Some bridges use a group of trusted people (called validators) to approve transfers. If someone steals those approval keys, they don’t need to find a bug — they can just approve their own fake withdrawals. That’s likely what happened to Gravity Bridge on May 30, when $5.4 million vanished. The bridge’s code was solid; the attacker simply had the keys to the vault.
3. Fake websites. Some attackers create lookalike bridge websites that trick users into sending their money to the wrong place. You think you’re using the real bridge, but you’re actually handing your tokens to a thief.
The Biggest Heists of 2026
Here are the most damaging bridge attacks tracked by PeckShield:
- Drift Protocol — lost $285 million on April 1. Reports suggest North Korean hacking groups may be behind this one.
- KelpDAO / LayerZero — $292 million stolen on April 18, the single largest bridge exploit of 2026.
- Gravity Bridge — $5.4 million lost on May 30 to suspected key theft.
- TAC Cross-Chain Layer (TON) — $2.8 million drained in a separate incident.
- TransitFinance — a cross-chain swap tool that lost $1.88 million on May 13.
And bridges are just one part of the problem. The total amount of cryptocurrency stolen across all types of attacks in 2026 is estimated at roughly $2.1 billion. Bridges account for a big chunk of that, even though they’re only a tiny fraction of all crypto services. That’s what makes this so alarming — hackers keep hitting the same weak spot over and over.
What’s Being Done to Fix This?
Security experts have a few ideas to make bridges safer:
Better key management. Right now, too many bridges rely on a small group of people holding master keys. If those keys get stolen, it’s game over. The fix? Spread the keys across different people, different locations, even different countries — and use special hardware that makes stealing them much harder. Think of it like a bank vault that requires managers in five different cities to open it at the same time.
Mathematical proof that the code is correct. Instead of just having humans read the code and hope they catch every bug, some teams are using a technique called “formal verification.” This uses math to prove that the code behaves exactly as intended under every possible scenario. It’s expensive and slow, but it would have caught the bug that cost KelpDAO $292 million.
Limiting how much money can flow through a single bridge. Some new bridges are adding speed limits — if someone tries to move an unusually large amount of money, the system slows down and gives the team time to investigate before the funds are gone.
What Should You Do Right Now?
If you regularly move crypto between blockchains, here are five steps you can take today to protect yourself:
1. Don’t leave money sitting in bridges. Bridges are for moving money, not storing it. Once your transfer is done, withdraw your funds to your own wallet immediately. Every minute your money sits in a bridge is a minute it’s exposed to hackers.
2. Stick with established bridges. A bridge that’s been around for years, has public security audits, and has survived real attacks is safer than a brand-new one offering amazing rewards. The newest bridge is usually the least tested.
3. Double-check the URL. Fake bridge websites that look identical to the real thing are a common scam. Bookmark the official website of any bridge you use. Don’t find it through Google or click links in chat groups.
4. Ask yourself: do you even need to bridge? Many popular tokens are now available directly on multiple blockchains. If you can use the native version, you skip the bridge risk entirely.
5. Follow security firms on social media. Accounts like PeckShield post real-time alerts when bridges get hacked. If a bridge you use gets attacked, you might have only minutes to move your money. Being first to know can be the difference between keeping your crypto and losing it.
The cryptocurrency market remains highly volatile. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
14 attacks in 5 months and bridges are still treated like an afterthought. the KelpDAO one alone was what, 200m+? insane that this keeps happening
The smart contract logic flaw angle is underrated. Bridges have to reconcile rules across entirely different VMs, the attack surface is massive. Nobody audits deep enough.
half a billion from two attacks and peckshield is the only one paying attention lol. where are the bridge teams at