Why the majority of hacked cryptos never regain their initial level

Victims of a crypto hack do not suffer only an immediate financial loss. According to a new report from Immunefi, affected tokens plunge on average by 61% within six months, and rarely recover. A harsh observation that reshapes the perception of risk in the crypto universe.

An immediate market sanction against crypto hacks

Between 2021 and 2025, Immunefi, one of the main bug bounty platforms in the crypto ecosystem, scrutinized 425 security incidents. The conclusion is clear: the average cost of a hack now reaches $25 million. But the real shock is how the market absorbs it.

On average, affected tokens lose 61% of their value within six months following an attack. And nearly 84% of them never regain their pre-hack price. A hack thus acts as an almost definitive sentence for the valuation of a project.

This phenomenon reflects a profound change in perception. As Mitchell Amador, CEO of Immunefi, points out, the market has become “less forgiving.” A security breach is no longer seen as a simple technical accident: it reveals structural weaknesses, failed governance, poorly audited code, insufficient risk management.

The repercussions go far beyond the initial loss:

• prolonged token drop;
• liquidity flight;
• loss of credibility with investors;
• development paralysis.

In a crypto market today dominated by institutional players with high demands, this erosion of trust often proves impossible to erase.

A systemic risk amplified by DeFi and fund concentration

Another major lesson from the report concerns the very structure of the market. Losses are not evenly distributed: they concentrate on a small number of massive incidents. Of the $4.67 billion lost in 2024 and 2025, just five attacks accounted for 62% of the total.

Centralized platforms embody this paradox. Less frequently targeted, they nevertheless accumulate significant capital volumes. About twenty attacks generated more than half of the total losses, evidence that target size matters as much as exposure frequency.

The most formidable danger, however, comes from DeFi. Its networked architecture acts as a crisis amplifier: an isolated incident can instantly propagate through lending, liquidity, or collateral protocols that were not directly targeted.

The collapse of Elixir’s deUSD stablecoin at the end of 2025 is the most striking illustration. Elixir had placed about 65% of its collateral with Stream Finance. When the latter revealed a $93 million loss attributable to an external manager, the chain reaction was devastating. 

Stream’s xUSD stablecoin dropped 77%, deUSD redemptions were immediately suspended, panic selling ravaged Curve pools, and deUSD eventually lost more than 97% of its value.

A single failure at a partner protocol was enough to bring everything down.

The crypto market is entering a new era, that of requirement. A hack is no longer a regrettable accident, it is a survival test. A breach does not just destroy funds: it destroys trust, and with it, the very value of the project. Investors no longer forgive; they punish, often definitively.