This year's cryptocurrency hacking losses estimated at 89% linked to North Korea

North Korea-linked attacks accounted for roughly 89% of reported crypto hacking losses through October 29 this year, according to Chainalysis, up from 15% in 2021 — a 74 percentage-point swing. The figure is measured by reported loss value rather than incident count, and the North Korean attribution is itself a Chainalysis estimate. The shift matters because it concentrates a growing share of exploit damage in state-linked actors rather than scattered opportunistic hackers. Separate Blockaid analysis of 212 exploits in the first half of 2026 found North Korea-linked attacks took more than half of losses, though differing firms and periods mean the two ratios aren't directly comparable. Watch for year-end totals and whether the concentration persists as incident counts and loss values are updated.