Decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms have suffered significant losses due to a series of exploits in February, with at least $21 million worth of cryptocurrency being mined across seven protocols, according to DeFi data analytics platform DefiLlama. Notable incidents include the flash loan reentry attack on Platypus Finance, which resulted in $8.5 million in losses, and the price oracle attack on BonqDAO, in which an exploiter manipulated the price of the AllianceBlock Token (ALBT). , causing a loss of an estimated $120 million, although the attackers reportedly only managed to cash out $1 million due to lack of liquidity in BonqDAO.

Other vulnerabilities included a re-entrancy attack on the Orion Protocol, which resulted in a loss of approximately $3 million, and another on the dForce network, which resulted in losses of around $3.65 million. However, in a shocking turn of events, all funds were returned to dForce when the attacker was revealed to be a white hat hacker. The attack on Platypus Finance was also notable because the team announced its intention to return 78% of the main pool funds by reworking frozen stablecoins.

Smart contract exploits were also prevalent, with algorithmic stablecoin project Hope Finance losing approximately $2 million due to a smart contract exploit, and multi-chain exchange aggregator Dexible experiencing a loss of $2 million worth of cryptocurrency via of an exploit that targeted the application’s selfSwap function.

In addition, BNB Chain-based DeFi protocol LaunchZone suffered a loss of $700,000 worth of funds due to an attacker leveraging an unverified contract.

These incidents come after blockchain data firm Chainalysis revealed in its 2023 Crypto Crime Report that hackers had stolen $3.1 billion from DeFi protocols in 2022, representing more than 82% of the total amount stolen. in the year.

Despite the losses, the DeFi space continues to grow, with the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi protocols reaching over $104 billion as of February 28, according to DefiLlama. The platform also noted that the number of users on DeFi platforms has increased steadily since 2020, with more than 5.8 million unique addresses interacting with DeFi protocols as of February 2023.

These incidents highlight the need for continued vigilance and improvement in DeFi security measures to prevent such vulnerabilities from occurring. While the DeFi space has seen significant growth and innovation in recent years, it is clear that security remains a crucial concern that must be addressed to ensure the continued success and sustainability of the ecosystem.