Balancer Hit by Suspected $70M Exploit with Staked Ether Tokens

Decentralized exchange and automated market maker Balancer may have suffered a new exploit after approximately $70 million worth of digital assets were transferred to a freshly created wallet.

Onchain data from Etherscan indicates that around $70.9 million in liquid staked Ether tokens were moved across three transactions. According to crypto intelligence platform Nansen, the transfers included 6,850 OSETH (StakeWise Staked ETH), 6,590 WETH (Wrapped Ether), and 4,260 wSTETH (Lido wstETH).

Blockchain security firm Cyvers estimated that up to $84 million in suspicious transactions across multiple chains were involved, though Balancer has yet to confirm the breach. The movement of funds to a new wallet strongly suggests a security incident.

This event follows previous security issues for Balancer. In September, the protocol experienced a DNS attack on its front end, resulting in about $238,000 stolen through phishing, as reported by blockchain sleuth ZachXBT. Earlier in August, a nearly $1 million stalecoin exploit occurred shortly after the disclosure of a critical vulnerability in some liquidity pools.