KyberSwap DEX Suffers $46 Million Exploit, Total Value Locked Plummets

By: Isha Das

The decentralized exchange, KyberSwap, has recently been the victim of a significant exploit leading to a loss of around $46 million in various crypto assets. The hack affected multiple blockchain platforms, causing a large scale theft of wrapped Ether (wETH) and other assets. Total Value Locked (TVL) on the platform has sharply declined by 68% following the incident.

This security incident has led to an urgent advisory by the Kyber Network team for users to withdraw their funds promptly. The wallet addresses implicated in the exploit were still active at the time of reporting, with the attacker leaving an on-chain message for the protocol developers and DAO members, announcing the commencement of negotiations once rested.

The attack saw funds spread across Ethereum, Polygon, Base, Optimism, and Arbitrum chains. TVL currently stands at $27 million, a stark decrease from its 2023 peak of $134 million. Despite the large scale of the theft, Kyber Network's token, KNC, experienced a brief 7% dip but recovered soon after to trade at $0.74.

It’s worth noting that KyberSwap had identified a potential vulnerability in April, advising its users to withdraw their liquidity. No funds were lost during that incident, so this recent attack marks a significant escalation.