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
  • 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


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 24 - 26, 2026

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

Flying_Tulip.png

Research

Flying Tulip's perpetual put option provides real principal protection, but investors must pay a valuation premium today for products that have to be built over the next 24 months. This structure works best as a stablecoin substitute where the put allows continuous monitoring—accept opportunity cost in exchange for asymmetric upside if the team executes on its ambitious cross-collateral architecture.

article-image

As flows consolidate and volatility fades, finding edge now means knowing which games are still worth playing

article-image

Value distribution came to $1.9 billion distributed in Q3, though total revenues have yet to beat 2021 heights

article-image

MegaETH public sale auction ends tomorrow, and the free money machine has attracted people who like free money

article-image

With tBTC under the hood, Acre abstracts bridging and converts non-BTC rewards to bitcoin

article-image

Accountable is also eyeing mid-November for mainnet launch

article-image

“Adjusted for size, I think it may be the most successful ETP launch of all time,” Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan says