Balancer pools exploited after last week’s vulnerability reveal

Balancer has removed the majority of funds from affected pools prior to exploit

article-image

New Africa/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

DeFi liquidity protocol Balancer suffered an exploit following the discovery of a critical vulnerability in its v2 pools last week.

The Balancer team acknowledged Sunday that they are aware of the exploit and most funds in affected pools have been withdrawn. 

Meir Dolev, the chief technology officer of blockchain security company Cyvers.AI, noted in a post on X yesterday that the attacker had secured $900k from the exploit. 

Loading Tweet..

Following the vulnerability’s discovery, liquidity providers were asked to exit their positions through a proportional exit

Read more: ‘Critical vulnerability’ reported in Balancer v2 pools

An earlier Balancer post noted that over 99.7% of liquidity originally at risk is now safe and only 0.08% of the total value locked (TVL) remained at risk. 

Blockchain security company PeckShield questioned this figure in a Monday post, contending that their analysis indicates more than $2.1 million remains in affected v2 pools.

“The Balancer team has done a great job in alerting the community to remove liquidity from affected vaults, the original estimate of “only 0.08% of total TVL ($565,199) remains at risk” seems to be seriously mis-calculated,” PeckShield tweeted. 

Loading Tweet..

At the time of writing, Balancer’s native token (BAL) was trading at $3.51, a little below $3.6 prior to the discovery of the vulnerability.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

  • Blockworks Daily: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.
  • Empire: Start your morning with the top news and analysis to inform your day in crypto.
  • Forward Guidance: Reporting and analysis on the growing intersection of crypto and macroeconomics, policy and finance.
  • 0xResearch: Alpha directly in your inbox. Market highlights, data, degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance and more.
  • Lightspeed: Built for Solana investors, developers and community members. The latest from one of crypto’s hottest networks.
  • The Drop: For crypto collectors and traders, covering apps, games, memes and more.
  • Supply Shock: Tracking Bitcoin’s rise from internet plaything worth less than a penny to global phenomenon disrupting money as we know it.
Tags

Upcoming Events

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

morpho 2 graphic.png

Research

Utilizing a ‘DeFi Mullet’ approach, Coinbase’s Bitcoin-backed loans integration with Morpho demonstrates a powerful blueprint for CEXs to monetize dormant assets by expanding adoption of wrapped products (cbBTC, USDC) while also supporting native and/or preferred DeFi ecosystems (Base) which can further lead to downstream growth in onchain liquidity and increased utilization of the related assets.

article-image

It’s been seven years since a Bank of America economist called bitcoin the “biggest bubble in history”

article-image

There are signs of cautious optimism in the crypto markets for now

article-image

Bitcoin’s managing to hold up, but a selloff could pave the way for an even more aggressive altcoin reaction

article-image

M^0’s first Solana user will be a platform offering banking-like services with stablecoins

article-image

The agency has “declared effective” Galaxy’s registration statement to list on the Nasdaq

article-image

Latest rise for Treasurys may signal that investors could be pulling out of bonds