Balancer Protocol Exploited: $117M Drained in Latest DeFi Hack

The DeFi space was hit hard today as the Balancer Protocol suffered a massive exploit, with total losses exceeding $117 million.

Early this morning, abnormal on-chain movements revealed that several Balancer V2 liquidity pools were compromised. Within hours, the attacker siphoned tens of millions in assets, including WETH, osETH, and wstETH, according to on-chain analysis. In response, Balancer halted withdrawals to contain the incident. In total, the criminals withdrew 17,698 worth of $ETH in various wrappers.

The impact didn’t stop there - Berachain swiftly paused its mainnet to deploy an emergency hard fork, as Balancer’s breach posed potential risks to its own ecosystem and other protocol forks.

Security Under the Microscope

What shocked many users was that Balancer had previously undergone nine separate security audits - yet still fell victim to a critical flaw. The event underscores how even highly vetted DeFi platforms remain susceptible to complex smart contract exploits.Users are now strongly advised to remove any liquidity from affected pools and revoke token approvals to ensure safety. This can be done through platforms like Revoke.cash or directly in wallets such as OKX Wallet and Rabby Wallet.

This exploit reinforces a harsh reality: audits don’t equal immunity. Even major DeFi players can become targets of advanced attacks. The Balancer case serves as a reminder that risk management, vigilance, and rapid community response remain the backbone of decentralized finance resilience.