Hacken report warns audit badges create false security as Q3 crypto losses hit $1.18B

Hacken report warns audit badges create false security as Q3 crypto losses hit $1.18B

Blockchain security firm Hacken warned that audit badges leave investors vulnerable by concealing unexamined signing keys and external infrastructure.

Crypto audits after $1.18 billion in losses: “The problem is always scope”

An audit badge on the website of an exchange or a protocol reads like a guarantee. The security firm Hacken has now set out how little it covers when it matters: in the third quarter of 2026, attacks on the crypto market cost $1.18 billion across 107 incidents, and $906.8 million of that fell on components that were never on the table at the last security audit. That is 77 percent of the quarter's losses. Co-founder Andrii Matiukhin summed it up…

Crypto audits give investors false sense of security as Q3 hacks cost $1.18 billion, Hacken says

The security firm found that 77% of third-quarter losses involved compromised suppliers, delayed fixes or systems outside the latest security reviews.