HyperVault Finance, a decentralized vault protocol on the Hyperliquid ecosystem, is facing allegations of a rug pull after approximately $3.6 million in user funds was drained in suspicious transactions. According to on-chain data from PeckShieldAlert, the funds were bridged from Hyperliquid to Ethereum, converted into 752 ETH, and then deposited into Tornado Cash, a privacy tool often used to obscure transaction trails.
The protocol's official X account and Discord server vanished shortly after the withdrawals, fueling fears that the developers have abandoned the project. This incident mirrors classic rug pull patterns, where teams exit after attracting liquidity. Community warnings were raised as early as September 4 by investigator HypingBull, who flagged HyperVault's false claims of pending audits from firms like Spearbit and Code4rena—none of which had any involvement.
HyperVault had marketed itself as a safe yield hub on HyperEVM, offering up to 90% APR on HYPE tokens, but the high returns now appear to have been a lure. The rug pull adds pressure to Hyperliquid's ecosystem, where the HYPE token has already declined 23% weekly to $35.50, amid competition from ASTER DEX and past exploits like the JELLY token manipulation that cost $13.5 million.
Notably, investor Arthur Hayes recently sold his HYPE position but is now polling followers about re-entering, which could influence market sentiment. This event highlights persistent DeFi risks, following other major rug pulls in 2025 like MetaYield Farm ($290M loss) and Mantra ($5.5B loss).