September Crypto Hacks Steal $127M Across 20 Major Exploits

Highlights:

• Crypto thefts dropped in September, but attackers still made away with $127 million.
• Major losses hit UXLink and SwissBorg as hackers exploited smart contract weaknesses.
• Phishing, AI-linked, and cross-chain vulnerabilities continue to endanger crypto projects worldwide.

In September, crypto hacks and scams went down by 22%, but thieves still stole about $127 million from about 20 major cases. There were around 22 big hacks reported, which targeted different crypto projects and personal wallets. According to data from Peckshield, September was slower for hackers than August, when they stole $163 million. Overall, crypto hacks are happening less often, but some of the attacks are becoming smarter and harder to stop. Most crypto exploits targeted weaknesses in smart contracts. 

#PeckShieldAlert September 2025 saw ~20 major crypto exploits, resulting in total losses of $127.06M.
This marks a -22% decrease from August's $163M.

In a positive development, ~$13M drained from a Venus user in a #phishing attack has been recovered.

Top 5 Hacks:
#UXLINK –… pic.twitter.com/ebUYM3Xwnh

— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) October 2, 2025

Top Crypto Hacks Cause Millions in Losses Across Protocols

The biggest hack involved UXLink, costing between $44 million and $48 million. The hacker took advantage of flaws in the protocol’s multi-signature wallet, minting billions of unauthorized tokens. This caused the token’s value to crash and triggered conversions into Ethereum and other assets.

SwissBorg DEX also suffered major losses, around $41 million. The SwissBorg hack happened through its staking partner Kiln. Attackers exploited the API used by the Solana Earn program and stole around 192,600 SOL tokens. Phishing attacks remained a major threat this year. Venus Protocol lost $13.5 million, though part of it was later recovered. Yala lost $7.6 million, and GriffAI faced $3 million in losses, showing ongoing risks in cross-chain and AI-linked crypto projects. These five incidents made up most of the month’s stolen funds.

Even though hacking has slowed, exploit wallets are still active in laundering stolen funds. In the last quarter, Tornado Cash deposits and withdrawals have tripled since June. The absence of big hacks may just be luck, as many exchanges use similar platforms with the same weaknesses. Social media account thefts also slowed in Q3 after earlier mass attacks on influencers. Hackers recently breached BNBChain’s account. The attack caused $13,000 in losses through a fraudulent airdrop site.

ALERT : The @BNBCHAIN X account is compromised.

The hacker posted a bunch of links to phishing websites that ask for Wallet Connect.

Do NOT connect your wallet.

Security teams have notified X already, working to suspend the account first, then restore access.

Also take-down… https://t.co/QeEnCCbFZe

— CZ BNB (@cz_binance) October 1, 2025

Compared to August’s big crypto hacks, September’s attacks were smaller and spread out. This shows protocols are learning and improving security. Overall losses fell as audits, bug bounties, and stronger smart contracts made hacks harder to succeed.

Crypto Faces Record Losses in 2025 Amid Major Hacks

September’s losses added to an already rough year for crypto. Security reports showed that the first half of the year was one of the worst periods for Web3 security in recent times. In the first half of 2025, billions were stolen from crypto protocols. Chainalysis estimates $2.17 billion was taken from January to June, while CertiK says it was even higher at $2.47 billion. Much of this came from February’s huge Bybit hack, which alone cost around $1.5 billion. 

Some major incidents include February’s Bybit hack, which lost $1.46 billion, and the Infini protocol hack the same month, losing $50 million in one transaction. In July, Iran’s Nobitex exchange lost $90 million in a politically motivated attack. Many hacks have happened across crypto protocols recently. This shows the industry still needs better security.