How the Radiant Capital Hacker Doubled a $53M Heist into a $102M Crypto Windfall

A digital Robin Hood—or just another wolf in DeFi's clothing? The Radiant Capital exploit proves crypto's dark arts can be alarmingly profitable.

From heist to harvest

What started as a $53M flash-loan attack morphed into a $102M payday, thanks to the hacker's savvy on-chain maneuvers. No brute force—just loophole gymnastics and liquidity pool alchemy.

The irony? This 'attack' outperformed most hedge funds last quarter. While VCs were busy writing 'web3 security' thought leadership, someone actually read the smart contract fine print.

Crypto's perpetual motion machine: theft begets wealth. The blockchain giveth, and the blockchain taketh away—usually from the same people.

Background of the Hack

In October 2024, Radiant Capital was hacked, and scammers pulled off approximately $51.5 million from user wallets. The hack was through a malicious contract that deceived users into providing token permissions, enabling the attacker to drain funds through a TransferFrom function.

The pilfered funds, wrapped BNB, ETH, USDC, and USDT, were all aggregated into one wallet. This wallet had more than $32 million in Arbitrum assets and approximately $18 million on the BNB Chain at the time of the attack, indicating the magnitude of the attack.

Also Read: CrediX Negotiated $4.5 Million in Stolen Crypto After Hack