Current State of Cryptocurrency Threats

As legitimate use of cryptocurrency expands, threat activity is expanding with it. Cryptocurrency is no longer just a payment method for cybercrime. It is increasingly what threat actors are trying to steal.

In practice, most crypto losses do not stem from flaws in the blockchain. They happen because someone gains unauthorized access. According to Fireblocks Security, many incidents involve social engineering. Attackers create fake airdrops, spoofed wallet connection pages, or impersonate customer support teams. The victim gets tricked into signing a legitimate transaction that gives the attacker permission to drain funds. Once the transaction is recorded on the blockchain, it cannot be undone.

This activity is now being scaled through Drainer-as-a-Service (DaaS). Criminal groups sell ready-made phishing kits and automated draining tools to affiliates, who run scams and share the profits. This lowers the barrier to entry and industrializes crypto theft, similar to how ransomware-as-a-service expanded the reach of data extortion operations.

Crypto loss in January 2026:

In January 2026 alone, approximately $370.3 million was stolen across 40 crypto-related incidents. About $311.3 million was tied to phishing and social engineering, and nearly $284 million came from a single incident. In that case, the attacker reportedly impersonated a hardware wallet support team and convinced the victim to reveal critical recovery information.

Why This Matters Regardless of Your Organization’s Crypto Use:

Whether an organization participates in crypto or not, adversaries do. Leaders do not need to be experts, but they should understand how cryptocurrency changes the threat landscape.

Organizations that do not directly participate in crypto should:

1. Prepare for ransom demands involving cryptocurrency.

Even organizations that do not hold cryptocurrency could be forced to navigate wallets, exchanges, and legal considerations during an incident.

2. Identify cryptocurrency exposure from third parties.

It is important to understand if third parties accept, store, or process cryptocurrency and evaluate any associated risks.

3. Educate employees on crypto-related impersonation threats

Threat actors may target personal cryptocurrency accounts by impersonating internal IT or executives. These attacks can result in credential compromise that may be leveraged to access organizational systems through password reuse or other methods.

If your organization does hold cryptocurrency:

• Update incident response plans to address wallet compromise and private key exposure.

• Provide crypto-specific phishing training for executives and finance teams.

• Review protections around cryptocurrency transfers and approvals to ensure proper oversight and defense.

Big Picture:

Current cryptocurrency losses have been around approvals, credentials, and access. In this environment, controlling access is what protects digital assets. Having strong identity governance, multi-factor authentication, transaction approval controls, and executive awareness is now more critical than ever.