#defi exploit

➤ Radiant Capital, a cross-chain lending protocol, has effectively wound down to a minimal state ( $2.21M TVL) 20 months after a $50M exploit linked to North Korea. ➤ Major exchanges like Binance have delisted and halted withdrawals for its RDNT token, signaling the end of its operational viability. ➤ Despite attempts at remediation and rebuilding, the protocol's market cap and failed recovery efforts have led to its decline.

➤ Echo Protocol, a DeFi platform on the Monad blockchain, lost $76.7 million in synthetic Bitcoin (eBTC) due to an admin key compromise, not a smart contract flaw. ➤ The attacker minted unauthorized eBTC, laundered funds through Curvance and Tornado Cash, and still holds a significant amount of the stolen assets. ➤ This incident highlights ongoing DeFi vulnerabilities in 2026, emphasizing the critical need for robust operational security measures like multi-signature protection and minting limits.

➤ Verus Protocol's Ethereum bridge was exploited for over $11.5 million due to a forged cross-chain transfer instruction, bypassing validation logic. ➤ Security firms identified the root cause as a lack of source-amount validation in the bridge's Solidity code, a vulnerability similar to past exploits like Nomad and Wormhole. ➤ The incident highlights the ongoing security risks associated with cross-chain bridges in DeFi and emphasizes the need for robust validation and incident response.

➤ Huma Finance experienced an exploit resulting in a $101K drain due to vulnerabilities in its deprecated Polygon V1 infrastructure. ➤ The incident highlights the persistent security risks associated with aging DeFi infrastructure and dormant smart contracts. ➤ While newer V2 infrastructure remained unaffected, the exploit underscores the importance of diligent infrastructure retirement and simplified design in DeFi.

➤ Aave experienced a significant TVL drop of $8 billion following a $293 million exploit on the Kelp DAO protocol, impacting liquidity and causing a price decline for the AAVE token. ➤ Michael Saylor's company Strategy hinted at further Bitcoin accumulation, following a recent $1 billion purchase, while also planning to increase dividend frequency to stabilize stock performance. ➤ A U.S. court ruled that the Jenner memecoin is not a security, and Southeast Asia launched its first tokenized gold fund (GOLDX) backed by physical gold and regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

➤ A DeFi exploit targeting KelpDAO's rsETH bridge resulted in over $196 million in bad debt on Aave V3, leading to a liquidity lockout for ETH depositors. ➤ The exploit caused AAVE's price to drop nearly 24% in two days, with significant selling pressure from whale wallets and a surge in exchange reserves. ➤ The long-term impact hinges on Aave's Umbrella reserve's ability to absorb the bad debt without slashing stakers, affecting market confidence.

➤ LayerZero attributes the $292 million Kelp DAO exploit to North Korea's Lazarus Group, citing a single-point-of-failure in Kelp DAO's DVN setup. ➤ The exploit led to a $10 billion outflow from Aave due to concerns over bad debt, prompting Aave to freeze rsETH markets. ➤ The incident highlights cross-chain security risks in DeFi, causing a 7% drop in total value locked (TVL) across the sector.