Crypto Hacks Fall 22%—$127 Million Lost in September, Major Incidents Highlighted

As reported by the blockchain security firm PeckShield, crypto hacks led to a total loss of $127.06 million in September 2025. This is a notable 22% decrease from August's losses, which totaled $163 million; however, the industry still faced nearly 20 significant exploits.

Key Takeaways

In September 2025, crypto hacks caused losses of $127.06 million, down 22% from August's $163 million.
Significant attacks included $44.14 million lost by UXLINK and $41.5 million lost by SwissBorg.
The industry remains at risk, with ongoing challenges in securing DeFi and blockchain platforms.
September's losses highlight a persistent trend of high-value thefts in 2025, with projections indicating the potential for record-setting losses.

Crypto Hacks Fall 22%—$127 Million Lost in September, Major Incidents Highlighted

Declining Losses but Persistent Threats: UXLINK and SwissBorg Lead the September Hacks

PeckShield shared its analysis via a post on X, highlighting the ongoing risk of substantial attacks on decentralized finance (DeFi) and blockchain platforms. Although the lower total from August signifies a reduction in criminal activity, it is important to recognize that hacking incidents remain a serious concern for the industry.

#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.

During September, the total losses were primarily due to a few significant incidents, with UXLINK and SwissBorg accounting for nearly two-thirds of the losses.

Notable Hacks: UXLINK

The most impactful incident was the $44.14 million hack of UXLINK, a blockchain-based social networking platform. In this attack, the hacker gained access to a multisig wallet, minting nearly 10 trillion unauthorized tokens, which resulted in a dramatic 90% drop in UXLINK's token value.

UXLINK was hacked!

The hacker received 490M $UXLINK and also minted 2B $UXLINK.

The hacker has sold a massive $UXLINK on DEXes through six wallets, obtaining 6,732 $ETH ($28.1M).

The hacker transferred the stolen assets to various exchanges, prompting UXLINK to request that trading be halted and to announce a token swap plan. Interestingly, during the exploit, the attacker also lost 500B tokens in a phishing scam.

SwissBorg Attack

In addition to UXLINK, SwissBorg, a prominent wealth management app in the crypto sector, suffered a $41.5 million loss in Solana. This breach occurred after hackers compromised a partner API supplier, Kiln, resulting in approximately 192,600 SOL being drained from its Earn program. Although less than 1% of users were affected, SwissBorg committed to covering losses using treasury funds, engaging ethical hackers, and ensuring that overall operations remained unaffected.

🇨🇭 SwissBorg hit by $41.5M $SOL hack after API compromise amid cascade of crypto security failures, including Nemo and Aqua exploits.

Additional September Incidents

Along with UXLINK and SwissBorg, a phishing incident involving Venus resulted in $13.5 million in stolen assets, although around $13 million of that has been successfully recovered. Other victims in September included Yala, which lost $7.64 million, and GriffAI, which suffered a $3 million loss. Smaller hacks impacted platforms like Nono, Shibarium Bridge, Basset, New Gold Protocol, and SolidifyFund, each losing between $1 million and $2.4 million.

PeckShield also monitored the movement of stolen assets, tracking transfers of hundreds of Ether across multiple wallets.

Trends in Crypto Hacks: September Losses Reflect Ongoing Security Challenges

The losses in September highlight a continuing trend of substantial thefts in 2025, despite a slight decrease compared to August. The total loss was marginally lower than August’s $163 million but still exceeded July’s $142 million, indicating no clear decline in hacking activity.

Moreover, Chainalysis estimated that between January and June, protocols suffered thefts totaling $2.17 billion, while CertiK reported an even higher figure of $2.47 billion, influenced by February's massive Bybit hack, which alone resulted in about $1.5 billion in stolen funds.

👨🏻‍💻 August saw a surge in crypto-related scams, with a staggering $310 million lost to various exploits, marking it as the second-highest monthly total for the year.

The Bigger Picture: 2025 Could Be a Record-Setting Year for Crypto Hacks

Comparing recent events with previous years illustrates the extent of the ongoing problem. The mid-year totals for 2025 have already surpassed the entire $2.2 billion stolen throughout 2024, suggesting that this year could potentially become one of the worst in crypto history for security breaches.

With three months remaining in the year, analysts caution that unless the industry strengthens its defenses, 2025 might surpass the records set during the peak hacking activity of DeFi in 2022.