Algo Stablecoin Protocol Beanstalk Relaunches Following $180M Hack

Beanstalk is hoping its revamped launch will help buoy issues pertaining to its security and trust following a major hack in April.

article-image

Source: Shutterstock and Beanstalk

share

key takeaways

  • Beanstalk said it has relaunced its protocol during its one year anniversary on the Ethereum mainnet
  • It follows a $180 million governance exploit where a hacker managed to steal 24,830 ether and 36 million BEAN tokens

Algorithmic stablecoin protocol Beanstalk said Friday it has resumed its services nearly four months after it was hacked for $180 million in crypto.

Beanstalk Farms, the self-styled “decentralized credit-based stablecoin protocol,” said it has “unpaused” its services concurrent with the one-year anniversary of its debut on the Ethereum mainnet on Aug. 6, 2021.

The protocol developers are hoping its revamped launch will help buoy issues pertaining to its security and trust following a major hack on April 17.

“It’s impossible to predict how it will perform, but Beanstalk Farms’ belief in the possibilities for a permissionless fiat stablecoin is unwavering,” the group wrote in a blog post.

The major hack involving a governance flash loan exploit saw an attacker drain 24,830 ether and 36 million BEAN tokens, worth about $180 million at the time. The protocol’s hack currently ranks as the industry’s sixth largest exploit, according to the industry tracking website Rekt Leaderboard.

“Since then, Beanstalk Farms and Bean Sprout have worked with the Beanstalk community to prepare the protocol for a safe replant and unpause,” per the post.

“The unpause was successful and Beanstalk is at peg,” a spokesperson told Blockworks via email. “During the first 24 hours of the unpause, Beanstalk was top 10 within the most activity on the Ethereum blockchain.”

Beanstalk is a permissionless fiat stablecoin protocol designed to utilize credit instead of collateral to issue its native stablecoin (BEAN), according to its website.

The protocol claims its primary objective is to “incentivize independent market participants” to cross the price of 1 BEAN over its dollar peg in a “sustainable fashion.” Algorithmic stablecoins have been called into question following the collapse of Terra’s ecosystem in May.

The team behind Beanstalk recently announced a $9 million fundraise for a new protocol dubbed Root.

Updated on August 9, 2022, at 1:53 am ET: Adds commentary from Beanstalk spokesperson


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter.

Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 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.

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.

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

An overview of the Base Ecosystem, with a focus on market leaders.

article-image

Although bitcoin hitting $120k by year’s end is looking unlikely

article-image

About 270 million HYPE has been claimed, valued around $7.6 billion

article-image

Stanford professors David Mazières and Dan Boneh will lead the lab alongside a cohort of graduate student researchers

article-image

With more companies holding BTC, bitcoin yielding strategies could become “a new corporate finance norm,” CoinShares posed

article-image

The proposal comes after Polygon governance considered a controversial use of bridged liquidity for yield

article-image

Can the community balance its decentralized ethos with the need for inclusivity and constructive debate?