Key Highlights
- DeFi has lost about $45 billion in value in 2026, with total value locked dropping from $115 billion to $70 billion.
- Only TRON and Hyperliquid recorded growth among the top 10 blockchains, while Ethereum, Solana, and Arbitrum saw sharp declines.
- Crypto hacks have intensified the downturn, with 121 attacks and about $942 million in losses recorded so far this year.
Decentralized finance (DeFi) has lost about $45 billion in value so far in 2026 as falling crypto prices and a growing number of hacks pushed users to pull money out of protocols.
According to a June 24 report by CryptoRank, the total value locked (TVL) across DeFi platforms has dropped every month this year, falling from around $115 billion in January to about $70 billion in late June.
The decline came as the broader crypto market pulled back after reaching record highs in late 2025. Bitcoin, for instance, climbed above $122,000 in October last year, which helped push the total crypto value to reach a peak value of $4.21 trillion.
Since then, the market has lost almost half of that value and now stands at around $2.15 trillion. Bitcoin is down more than 28% this year, while Ethereum has fallen by as much as 43%. BNB is down 33%, and Solana has dropped 43.5%, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Because many DeFi protocols depend on crypto assets, the drop in prices has reduced the dollar value of funds locked on these networks.
Only two major chains managed to grow
CryptoRank said that among the 10 largest blockchains by TVL, only TRON and Hyperliquid have recorded growth this year.
TRON’s TVL increased by about 5%, supported by its role in USDT transfers and stablecoin settlements. Much of its activity comes from lending, staking, and stablecoin-related services.
Hyperliquid gained roughly 7%, helped by strong activity in on-chain perpetual futures trading and growth within its HyperEVM ecosystem.
Ethereum remained the largest DeFi chain despite a 43% decline, with TVL standing at $38.9 billion. Solana’s TVL dropped 40.5% to $4.93 billion. Arbitrum posted the biggest decline among the top ten chains, falling 55.3% to $1.3 billion. Plasma saw an even bigger drop, with TVL down 74.6% to $784 million.
Hacks added more pressure
Security breaches added another layer of pressure to the market. According to the data, the crypto industry has suffered 121 hacks so far in 2026, with total losses reaching about $942 million. The second quarter alone saw 85 attacks and around $775 million in stolen funds.
“DeFi TVL Keeps Bleeding as 2026 Downtrend Continues,” CryptoRank wrote on X. The research platform added that “Total DeFi TVL has fallen in every single month of 2026, sliding from ~$115B in January to ~$70B today.”
Record number of attacks in Q2
CryptoRank also noted that “Q2 2026 Becomes the Most-Hacked Quarter in Crypto,” saying that the 85 attacks during the quarter made it the busiest period for exploits in its dataset.
Two of the largest incidents involved Drift Protocol and KelpDAO, which lost about $285 million and $293 million, respectively. Together, the breaches accounted for more than half of the losses recorded this year.
The KelpDAO exploit also created problems for Aave. Attackers used stolen rsETH tokens as collateral to borrow funds, leaving bad debt on the lending platform. In the days after the incident, Aave’s TVL dropped from $26.4 billion to $14.3 billion as users rushed to withdraw their deposits.
Despite the downturn, CryptoRank noted that the current decline has been slower than the crash seen in 2022, when DeFi lost more than 70% of its value within seven months.
Also Read: THORChain Reopens 39 Days After $10.7M Exploit, Teases XMR & ZEC Swaps
