Balancer Hacked For $88 Million As DeFi Security Fears Escalate

By Emir Abyazov

The DeFi protocol Balancer has suffered a massive exploit, with hackers draining $88 million in assets from its storage.

Cybersecurity firm PeckShield reported that the attack is still ongoing, spreading across several blockchains where Balancer is deployed — one of the largest multi-chain DeFi hacks of 2025 so far.

UPDATE: The attack is ongoing. The estimated loss is ~$88M on multiple chains https://t.co/tu7d5SKYy7

— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) November 3, 2025

Scale of the attack and how it happened

Data from Etherscan revealed large suspicious transfers from a Balancer address to a newly created wallet. According to analytics platform Nansen, around $70.9 million in assets moved in just three transactions:

• 6,850 StakeWise Staked ETH (OSETH)
• 6,590 Wrapped Ethereum (WETH) — about $24.5 million
• 4,260 Lido wstETH (wSTETH)

Blockchain security firm Cyvers estimated the total at $84 million, while PeckShield later confirmed losses reaching $88 million.

These cross-chain movements point to a coordinated exploit targeting multiple Balancer liquidity pools, suggesting an advanced and well-planned attack.

A pattern of vulnerabilities raises red flags

This breach adds to a string of security failures for Balancer.

In Sep 2023, hackers launched a DNS attack on its front-end, redirecting users to a phishing site that drained about $238,000. Blockchain detective ZachXBT first reported the incident.

Stolen funds are being directed to this address

0x645710Af050E26bB96e295bdfB75B4a878088d7E

~$238k stolen so far pic.twitter.com/rwMybBaLoA

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) September 20, 2023

Just a month earlier, in August, Balancer lost nearly $1 million in a stablecoin exploit — barely a week after the team disclosed a “critical vulnerability” in certain liquidity pools.

These recurring issues have shaken community confidence and sparked calls for a full security overhaul across DeFi protocols.

About the balancer protocol

Balancer is a decentralized exchange (DEX) and automated market maker (AMM) built on Ethereum.

It allows users to trade tokens and provide liquidity through self-balancing pools that automatically adjust token ratios. The platform, launched in 2020, holds over $350 million in total value locked (TVL) on Ethereum alone.

So far, the Balancer team has not publicly confirmed the exploit, though the suspicious outflows strongly indicate a breach.

With three major attacks in under six months, investors are questioning the protocol’s resilience and whether DeFi security standards can keep pace with increasingly sophisticated threats.

Source:: Balancer Hacked For $88 Million As DeFi Security Fears Escalate