Crypto Security Audits Face New Scrutiny as Hacken Warns Incomplete Reviews Leave Investors Exposed

Crypto security audits facing renewed scrutiny after Hacken warned projects may be giving investors a false sense of protection by presenting narrowly scoped reviews as evidence of comprehensive security. The concern follows Hacken’s third-quarter security research, which estimates, digital-asset projects suffered approximately $1.18 billion in losses across 107 incidents, with a large share of those losses tied to weaknesses that traditional smart-contract audits may not have covered. The issue is not that smart-contract audits are ineffective. They remain an important part of blockchain security. The problem is that investors often interpret the existence of an audit as proof that an entire protocol, exchange or wallet ecosystem has been examined. In practice, many reviews focus on a limited codebase while leaving critical infrastructure outside the scope.