$11 Million Gone in Yearn Finance Exploit

Yearn Finance has reported an exploit of one of its DAI vaults.

Feb 4, 2021

2 min read

Hacks and exploits are common in the crypto world. Image: Shutterstock

DeFi yield farming project Yearn Finance has been hit by an exploit that has affected a DAI lending pool, according to its Twitter account.

The tweet, posted at around 5 PM Eastern US time, states: "We have noticed the v1 yDAI vault has suffered an exploit. The exploit has been mitigated. Full report to follow."

Yearn developer banteg, one of the administrators of the DeFi project's website, followed with a few more details: "Yearn DAI v1 vault got exploited, the attacker got away with $2.8m, the vault lost $11m. Deposits into strategies disabled for v1 DAI, TUSD, USDC, USDT vaults while we investigate."

Yearn DAI v1 vault got exploited, the attacker got away with $2.8m, the vault lost $11m. Deposits into strategies disabled for v1 DAI, TUSD, USDC, USDT vaults while we investigate. pic.twitter.com/1RWYyu0d5m

— banteg (@bantg) February 4, 2021

The suspected exploit involved 160 "nested transactions," pointed out Aave founder and CEO Stani Kulechov.

The trading price for the YFI governance token fell sharply on the news, plummeting from $34,700 to $30,500 in minutes (though it's since rebounded slightly).

Yearn aggregates DeFi lending protocols such as Aave and Compound to make sure users get the best return on their loan.

Update: An earlier version of this story claimed that $14 million was taken from yearn.finance. The actual number was closer to $11 million.

Daily Debrief Newsletter

Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.

Recommended News

Hyperliquid Delists Surging Solana Meme Coin to Avoid Liquidation Crisis
Decentralized exchange Hyperliquid delisted perpetual futures for the Solana-based meme coin JELLYJELLY on Wednesday, describing the move as critical to ensuring its network’s integrity amid a looming liquidation crisis. Hyperliquid uses its own high-speed blockchain, built upon the Ethereum layer-2 network Arbitrum, and the project said its networks’ validators had convened to take “decisive action,” in a post on X (formerly Twitter). The decision came after a Hyperliquid user opened a $6 milli...
NewsDeFi
4 min read
André BeganskiMar 26, 2025
Create an account to save your articles.
Solana DEX Raydium's Pump.fun Alternative Is Going Live 'Within a Week'
Solana decentralized exchange Raydium says it’s going live in the next week with its “flexible” token launchpad, which will address what have become user pain points on its soon-to-be competitor Pump.fun. The new platform, LaunchLab, will allow users to adjust a token’s bonding curve and tokenomics, while still offering a user-friendly cookie cutter option. Previously, Raydium had simply operated as an automated market maker and decentralized exchange on Solana; while Pump.fun rapidly grew to be...
NewsDeFi
5 min read
Ryan S. GladwinMar 26, 2025
Create an account to save your articles.
Solana DEX Raydium Token Jumps Despite Emergence of Rival PumpSwap
Raydium's native token, Ray, rose sharply on Monday, driven by the decentralized exchange's "deep liquidity," even as it faces stiff competition from the recently launched rival PumpSwap, according to one core contributor. As the 133rd largest crypto by market capitalization, Ray is trading at about $1.95, according to crypto data provider CoinGecko. It is up 25% over the past 14 days, recovering ground lost earlier this year as Pump.fun grew more popular. Ray had dropped 7.6% over a five-minut...
NewsDeFi
4 min read
Ryan S. GladwinMar 25, 2025
Create an account to save your articles.

Coin Prices