In a recent incident, the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Balancer fell victim to an exploit that resulted in the loss of almost $900,000. This breach occurred just days after a critical vulnerability had been reported, affecting several V2 pools.
Blockchain security expert Meier Dolev came forward to reveal the identity of the hacker responsible for exploiting this vulnerability. The Ethereum address associated with the attacker raised suspicions as it received two significant transfers of Dai (DAI) stablecoins, amounting to $636,812 and $257,527. These transactions boosted the balance on the address to a total of $893,978.
Prior to this exploit, the Balancer protocol team had issued a warning regarding the critical vulnerability on August 22. They urged users to withdraw their funds from liquidity providers (LPs) and temporarily halt the affected pools to minimize potential losses.
The vulnerable assets were spread across various networks, including Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Avalanche, Gnosis, Fantom, and zkEVM. Despite the warning, only a small fraction of Balancer’s total assets, about 1.4%, were exposed, amounting to over $5 million.
As of August 24, a significant portion, approximately $2.8 million, which accounted for 0.42% of the total value locked, remained susceptible to risk. To mitigate potential damage, Balancer strongly recommended that users swiftly migrate their funds to secure pools or initiate withdrawals. Pools unable to undergo mitigation were marked as ‘at risk,’ urging LPs to exit these pools promptly.
This incident serves as a stark reminder of the persistent challenges DeFi platforms face concerning security and risk management. Despite Balancer’s efforts to mitigate the vulnerability’s impact, this exploit underscores the necessity for constant vigilance and user proactivity in safeguarding their assets.
Earlier this month, Exactly Protocol experienced a breach resulting in losses of over $12 million, contributing to the ongoing series of DeFi hacks that continue to impact the industry.
