Decentralized finance, or DeFi, refers to financial services built on blockchain networks that operate without banks or traditional intermediaries. By April 2026, total value locked across DeFi protocols stood at nearly $100 billion, with platforms such as Aave functioning as a major lending market.

The attack surface that comes with that scale now reaches enterprises indirectly through payment processors, treasury partners and vendors with ties to blockchain infrastructure. In early 2026, at least 12 cryptocurrency-related platforms were attacked, including DeFi platforms, resulting in losses estimated at $606.2 million, according to Yahoo Finance and data from DeFiLlama.

In the largest incident, the KelpDAO exploit drained $292…