Balancer Dodges $4.1M Bullet: How a New Attack Vector Was Thwarted
DeFi's resilience tested as Balancer outsmarts a $4.1M exploit attempt.
Security researchers uncovered a fresh vulnerability—just before attackers could drain funds. The protocol's rapid response highlights both the ingenuity of whitehats and the perpetual cat-and-mouse game in decentralized finance.
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Balancer risks open white hat option to DeFi protocols
Balancer managed to prevent another loss by resorting to a WHITE hat option. BitFinding had to initiate a last-resort white hack to salvage funds after the exploit.
Last week we helped @balancer recover part of the hack by intercepting exploits worth $1M. We identified and backrun the hacker in less than 5 seconds.
Full timeline below ⬇️
— BitFinding (@BitFinding) November 11, 2025
The speed of the operation last week allowed BitFinding to save around $1M of funds and move them to SAFE wallets.
Other sources point to an even bigger role for white hat researchers, who may have salvaged up to $20M in funds from Balancer.
Balancer works with lower liquidity
Following the hack, Balancer now holds a little over $322M in liquidity. At this level, Balancer has returned to activity levels not seen since before the 2021 bull market.
The loss of reputation also affected the BAL token, which now trades NEAR yearly lows at $0.81. Despite the risks, Balancer remained a DeFi staple, working at a lower baseline.
The Balancer incident continues to spark fears of similar attacks on larger protocols. For now, most large-scale lending pools have not reported hacks, but many suspect other protocols contain similar smart contract errors, allowing actions that undermine the balance.
Some of the recent DeFi hacks found flaws in smart contracts that were omitted during multiple security audits, showing that even certified protocols are at risk.
Balancer has seen similar exploits of its V2 pools in 2023, which resulted in the closure of the affected vaults. However, the app retained its legacy technology, retaining the risks of further exploits. The Balancer exploit happened after a relatively calm month in October, where attacks against DeFi fell by 85%.
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