Balancer website hijack puts users at risk

Balancer’s user interface woes follow an exploit last month targeting its liquidity pools

article-image

Vladimir Kazakov/Shutterstock, modified by Blockworks

share

DeFi liquidity protocol Balancer is staring down yet another security vulnerability, this time targeting its user interface. 

The platform issued a notice on social media Tuesday evening, urging users not to interact with the main Balancer UI until further notice as they investigate. Investors and users of Balancer are advised to remain vigilant and await further updates.

Crypto sleuth ZachXBT, revealed on X, formerly Twitter, that the stolen funds are being funneled into a specific Ethereum address. Approximately $238,000 has reportedly been pilfered so far. 

Analysis of the address shows it currently holds 68 ether (ETH) valued at more than $111,000, based on the current ETH price of $1,636.

In the last eight hours, a series of ERC-20 token transfers involving the address labeled “Balancer Attacker” can be viewed from Etherscan, a popular analytics tool. 

Tokens, including Balancer’s native BAL token, liquid staked ether, Aave’s wrapped tokens, and several others, have so far been transferred in and out of the address.

The developments Wednesday follow a series of assaults against the protocol in recent weeks including an exploit of a critical vulnerability in its v2 pools late last month.

Built on the Ethereum blockchain, Balancer functions as both an automated market maker and a liquidity protocol, allowing users to trade tokens directly from its liquidity pools, without the need for a traditional order book.

In recent hours, Balancer’s native token (BAL) has experienced some volatility, though the full extent of the financial fallout remains to be seen. BAL is down 3.2% on the day from a top of $3.44 to $3.27, exchange data shows.

Balancer is not the first DeFi platform to fall victim to a cyber-attack this year. There has been a noticeable uptick in security breaches targeting DeFi projects in recent months, leading to a broader conversation in the industry about the need for enhanced security measures.

The Balancer team said it is currently investigating the issue, and it’s yet unclear how the attackers managed to exploit the system. Blockworks has reached out to learn more.


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

Salt Lake City, UT

MON - TUES, OCT. 7 - 8, 2024

Blockworks and Bankless in collaboration with buidlbox are excited to announce the second installment of the Permissionless Hackathon – taking place October 7-8 in Salt Lake City, Utah. We’ve partnered with buidlbox to bring together the brightest minds in crypto for […]

Salt Lake City, UT

WED - FRI, OCTOBER 9 - 11, 2024

Permissionless is a conference for founders, application developers, and users. Come meet the next generation of people building and using crypto.

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.

recent research

4.png

Research

This months PPGC covered four main areas. Firstly, debriefing the progress and status of the mainnet implementation of the Ahmedabad hard fork. Secondly, a retrospective on the testnet phase of the Ahemdabad Hard Fork. Thirdly, an update on PIP-36 which involves replaying failed state syncs. Lastly, PIP-47 which pushes upgrades to the Polygon Protocol Council.

article-image

Sygnum’s head of investment researchthinks Solana can pass Ethereum by drawing institutions for tokenization platforms and stablecoins

article-image

Plus, NFT trading volumes are seeing all-time lows

article-image

And could BitGo’s offering dump the entire stablecoin market on its head?

article-image

Institutions to test out the settlement of “digital assets and currencies” on a network that annually carries more than 5 billion financial messages

article-image

After Bitwise’s XRP ETF filing this week, one industry watcher notes: “Politics will determine whether this happens soon or in a few years”

article-image

Plus, a look back at some of the SEC’s biggest enforcement moves under Gurbir Grewal