Crypto Theft Losses Drop 87% to $50M in February

Cryptocurrency theft losses plummeted to approximately $50 million in February 2026, marking a sharp decline from $385 million the previous month, according to data from blockchain intelligence firm Nominis. The drop, however, reflects a tactical shift by attackers toward phishing and social engineering tactics that target individual users rather than exploiting software vulnerabilities, with private cryptocurrency holders suffering the majority of the damage.

Nominis reported that the reduced total stemmed from fewer large-scale code breaches, as improved auditing tools have made such exploits harder to execute. Instead, attackers increasingly relied on deceptive methods, including fake websites mimicking legitimate platforms to capture private keys and credentials. Wallet poisoning schemes also rose, where fraudsters send small transactions from addresses resembling trusted contacts, tricking users into reusing them and directing funds to thieves. Industry analysts from firms like Chainalysis, CertiK, and TRM Labs have noted this pivot to human-centric attacks, which now dominate crypto theft as infrastructure security strengthens.

Compounding these risks, Google Threat...