BNB Whale Loses $13.5M in Venus Protocol Phishing Attack, Platform Temporarily Halts Services

[TRADE_PLUGIN]BNBUSDT,BNBUSDT[/TRADE_PLUGIN] BNB News - A high-net-worth user of Venus Protocol suffered a $13.5 million loss in a targeted phishing attack on September 1, prompting the decentralized finance platform to temporarily suspend operations. The attacker gained unauthorized access to the victim's borrowing and redemption permissions through a compromised wallet extension. Initial reports from security firm Beosin overstated losses at $27 million before PeckShield corrected the figure, noting early calculations had included the whale's debt position. Venus Protocol confirmed its smart contracts remained secure, characterizing the incident as an isolated compromise of a user's hardware wallet setup rather than a systemic vulnerability. The protocol's swift pause prevented further fund drainage, demonstrating DeFi platforms' growing responsiveness to security threats. This incident underscores the persistent risks of phishing in cryptocurrency ecosystems, particularly for large account holders.