February was an unusually quiet month for crypto theft. After months of staggering losses, the industry saw just $26.5 million in total damages from hacks and scams, according to blockchain security firm PeckShield. This marks the lowest monthly figure in nearly a year.
The number stands in sharp contrast to the chaos of early 2025, when a single breach drained $1.5 billion from crypto exchange Bybit.
Two Attacks Accounted for Most Losses
Out of 15 recorded incidents in February, two attacks were responsible for the majority of losses. The larger of these targeted YieldBlox, a DAO-managed lending pool, on February 21. Attackers manipulated token prices to drain $10 million from the protocol. That same day, decentralized identity platform IoTeX also suffered an attack, losing close to $9 million through a private key exploit. Together, these two incidents made up over 70% of the month’s total losses.
The drop from January is significant. PeckShield reports show February’s $26.5 million total represents a 69% decline from the $86 million recorded just a month earlier.
According to a PeckShield spokesperson, part of the reason is simply the absence of a massive, headline-making breach. Without a single dominant attack, the overall numbers appear far more manageable.
Market conditions also played a role. Bitcoin fell below $70,000 in early February, triggering a broad market correction that seemed to shift focus away from protocol attacks. During such volatile periods, traders and institutions are often preoccupied with managing losses and moving liquidity—an environment that tends to suppress exploit activity rather than encourage it.
Crypto Security Standards Are Tightening
The improvement may not be entirely due to luck or timing. Analysts point to tighter risk controls, stronger counterparty vetting, and better real-time monitoring across major platforms as factors contributing to a more secure environment.
Artificial intelligence is also emerging as a key tool in combating vulnerabilities. Automated code checks, anomaly detection systems, and pre-deployment attack simulations are helping to identify problems earlier—before they can be exploited. Experts suggest that if security standards continue to keep pace with innovation, losses could keep shrinking throughout the year.
Phishing Remains a Persistent Threat
Not all trends are positive. Phishing attacks—where criminals impersonate trusted contacts or platforms to steal login credentials and private keys—remain a serious and ongoing problem.
While losses from wallet-draining phishing schemes dropped sharply in 2025, falling from $494 million to $83 million, the threat has not vanished. According to PeckShield, bad actors are increasingly shifting their focus from targeting code to targeting people. Tricking a user into handing over access is often easier than cracking a well-audited smart contract.
The firm advises both institutions and large holders to rely on multi-signature cold storage solutions and to treat private key security as non-negotiable.
Frequently Asked Questions
FAQs Cryptos Quietest Month Ongoing Hacker Activity
BeginnerLevel Questions
1 What does Cryptos quietest month mean
It means that overall trading activity price volatility and major news events in the cryptocurrency market were significantly lower than usual for that period creating a sense of calm or stagnation
2 If the market is quiet does that mean its safer
Not necessarily A quiet market primarily refers to trading activity not security The underlying technology and platforms can still have vulnerabilities that hackers exploit regardless of market noise
3 Who are these hackers and what do they want
Hackers in this context are typically cybercriminals who look for weaknesses in crypto exchanges decentralized finance protocols or individual wallets Their goal is to steal digital assets like Bitcoin or Ethereum to sell for profit
4 How do hackers steal crypto if everything is secure
While blockchain technology itself is very secure the applications built on top of it can have software bugs flawed smart contracts or be targeted through phishing scams that trick users into giving up access
5 As a beginner whats the main thing I should do during a quiet market
Use the calm period to focus on security fundamentals set up strong unique passwords enable twofactor authentication on all accounts and learn about selfcustody wallets for longterm storage
Intermediate Advanced Questions
6 Why would hacker activity continue or even increase during a quiet market
Hackers operate independently of market sentiment A quiet period might mean security teams are less vigilant or it could be the culmination of longplanned attacks Sometimes lower liquidity can also make it harder to trace stolen funds
7 Does low volatility create specific security risks for DeFi protocols
Yes In quiet lowvolatility markets certain DeFi mechanisms might see less usage and testing potentially leaving overlooked vulnerabilities Hackers often probe these protocols continuously
8 What are common attack vectors right now that I should be aware of
Recent trends include
Smart Contract Exploits Finding a logic error in a DeFi protocols code to drain funds