Hacken: Crypto institutions no longer rely solely on audits; security assessments are shifting to continuous monitoring and operational resilience.

Blockchain security firm Hacken has released a report stating that crypto institutions are re-evaluating project security standards, as traditional smart contract audits and operational histories are no longer sufficient as trust benchmarks. Investors are now focusing on continuous monitoring, signature permission management, and incident response capabilities. According to Hacken’s Q2 2026 Security & Compliance Report, among the 1,427 projects it tracks, only 9% have deployed third-party continuous monitoring mechanisms, and just 4% have all three elements: monitoring, bug bounty programs, and security audits. The report shows that of the approximately $764 million in crypto asset losses recorded in Q2 2026, 88.3% came from private key leaks, signature permission issues, and infrastructure security problems, rather than smart contract vulnerabilities. Hacken noted that institutional investors are increasingly adding assessments of signer changes, collateral support, third-party dependencies, incident response capabilities, and audit scope and timeliness to their due diligence processes. The report points out that the 14 projects attacked in Q2 had all undergone audits before, but most losses stemmed from areas outside the coverage of traditional audits, including signature devices, cross-chain bridge validation nodes, backend infrastructure, administrator keys, and old contracts still in operation. Hacken stated that as institutional capital enters the crypto market, projects lacking continuous security proof may face higher risk premiums, fewer investment opportunities, and greater difficulty obtaining insurance and partner support. Federico Bagiotti, Head of Risk Management at Abraxas Capital, said that whether a project’s security level matches its funding scale has become a key criterion for institutional investment, surpassing project potential.