The Solana-based Drift <button class="define-target" id="defi">defi</button> <button class="define-target" id="perps">perpetual futures</button> exchange was exploited for $285&nbsp;million. The project alerted the community on social media, writing: "Drift Protocol is experiencing an active attack. ... This is not an April Fools joke."<p>The project later described the exploit as "a novel attack involving durable nonces, resulting in a rapid takeover of Drift's Security Council administrative powers." Once the attacker had access to admin capabilities, they quickly eliminated risk management limits on the protocol and drained huge quantities of tokens, which they swapped to USDC and then ETH. The attack was attributed to extremely sophisticated social engineering, likely by North Korean hackers.</p><p>Some have criticized USDC's issuer, Circle, for not <button class="define-target" id="freezing">freezing</button> the stolen funds during the six hours they were held in USDC. Unlike ETH, USDC is controlled by a centralized company that can, and regularly does, freeze assets determined to have been stolen or connected to illicit activity.</p><p>The theft is among the largest in defi history.</p>

"Drift says $280M exploit tied to 'sophisticated' admin takeover; ZachXBT criticizes Circle over USDC handling"

Drift exploit

Drift exploited for $285&nbsp;million

After a fake version of the Ledger cryptocurrency wallet app made it onto the normally highly curated Apple App store, customers lost $9.5&nbsp;million dollars to the malicious product. Believing it was a genuine Ledger product, people entered their <button class="define-target" id="seed-phrase">seed phrases</button> into the app, then discovered their wallets were immediately drained.<p>One victim, a musician who goes by G. Love, wrote: "I lost my retirement fund in a hack/Scam when I switched my Ledger over to my new computer and by accident downloaded a malicious ledger app from the Apple store. All my BTC gone in an instant." According to him, he lost 5.9&nbsp;BTC (~$445,000).</p><p>Crypto sleuth zachxbt traced some of the stolen funds through Kucoin, a Chinese cryptocurrency exchange that was <a href="https://www.web3isgoinggreat.com/?id=kucoin-pleads-guilty" target="_blank">recently fined and forced to exit US markets</a> over licensing and anti-money laundering failures. "The three largest victims lost seven figures each," he wrote.</p><p>Apple removed the malicious app from their App Store on April 13, six days after it had been added.</p>


"A fake Ledger app on the Apple App Store drained $9.5 million in crypto"

Fake Ledger app

Users lose $9.5&nbsp;million to fake Ledger wallet app on the Apple App Store

Bitcoin ATM operator Bitcoin Depot has disclosed a March&nbsp;23 hack in which attackers stole 50.903&nbsp;BTC (~$3.67&nbsp;million) from company wallets. According to the company's disclosure with the SEC, the exploiters gained access to the company's IT systems and wallet credentials, allowing them to steal the assets.<p>Bitcoin Depot is the largest operator of crypto ATMs globally and in the United States, with approximately 8,700 kiosks in the US and 9,200 worldwide.</p>

 filed by Bitcoin Depot Inc. on April 6, 2026

Bitcoin Depot hack

Bitcoin Depot hacked for $3.67&nbsp;million

On April Fools' Day, the Hyperbridge blockchain <button class="define-target" id="bridge">bridge</button> project posted a tweet claiming that the North Korean Lazarus hacking group had drained $37&nbsp;million from the project. A linked blog post contained a Rickroll GIF and an explanation of "Why Hyperbridge can't be hacked".<p>The following day, a Hyperbridge developer posted a screenshot of a blockchain transaction, writing "Lmao the uniBTC exploiter is testing Hyperbridge. I hope you have a quantum computer bro". Another commenter replied, "Rule #1 dont actively provoke attackers".</p><p>About two weeks later, an attacker was able to forge a transaction to change the admin rights for the Polkadot/Ethereum bridge contract, allowing them to mint 1&nbsp;billion DOT tokens. They were able to cash out about $237,000 due to limited liquidity.</p><p>The April Fools' posts have since been deleted.</p>

"Hyperbridge exploited less than two weeks after April Fools’ day hack prank"

Event	Date	Amount More info
Drift exploit	April 1, 2026	$285,000,000
Fake Ledger app	April 13, 2026	$9,500,000
Bitcoin Depot hack	April 6, 2026	$3,665,000
Hyperbridge exploit	April 13, 2026	$237,000