Radiant Capital, the omnichain money market that suffered a devastating exploit in October 2024, announced on Monday that it will permanently wind down operations after 18 months of unsuccessful recovery attempts. The protocol, unable to retrieve a meaningful portion of the roughly $51 million in stolen assets or secure fresh capital, is transitioning into a maintenance state rather than continuing normal activity.
"The DAO no longer has a viable path forward," the project stated. "Over the past months, contributors and the community continued to operate under increasingly difficult conditions, working to support users, maintain the protocol, and pursue recovery. That effort was real. And it was consistent. But effort alone is not enough without recovery, capital, or growth."
The closure traces back to an exploit on Radiant's Arbitrum and BNB Chain deployments, where an attacker deployed a backdoor contract to gain unauthorized access, according to blockchain intelligence firm Arkham Intelligence. The attack caused about $51 million in losses. Earlier that same year, the protocol also fell victim to a flash loan attack that drained roughly 1,900 ETH—worth $4.5 million at the time—further eroding confidence. Ethereum and Base deployments were not directly compromised, but users were warned to exercise caution across all contracts.
User access and recovery
In its maintenance-state phase, the frontend and smart contracts will remain live and accessible, allowing users to withdraw collateral, repay loans, and manage open positions. This approach avoids a sudden contract freeze that could trap funds. Radiant also noted that recovery efforts will continue, and any retrieved funds would be returned to affected users, though the project made clear such recoveries would not alter the DAO’s operating outlook.
Broader DeFi risk implications
Radiant’s shutdown highlights the persistent threat of exploits across decentralized finance. Recent data from DeFi Llama showed that the number of crypto hacks reached a record monthly high in April, with more than 20 separate incidents—though total stolen value did not set a new record. The trend underscores that protocol survival hinges not just on smart-contract audits but on financial resilience, governance capacity, and incident-response planning. For omnichain lending markets, the attack also demonstrates how a breach on one chain can undermine trust across an entire protocol.
For investors and users, the lesson is stark: total value locked, multi-chain coverage, and token incentives do not eliminate recovery risk. When a major exploit goes unrecovered and fresh capital is unavailable, the damage can outlast the initial hack and ultimately force a protocol to cease operations.
