July DeFi Hacks Drain Over $110 Million from Compromised Protocols

The month of July saw a wave of DeFi hacks that drained over $110 million from various protocols. Eight separate incidents were reported, with compromised keys, governance manipulation, and operational mistakes being the primary causes.

AFX Trade lost $24.15 million due to compromised bridge keys on Arbitrum, while Ostium suffered a loss of $23.75 million after an attacker used a stolen oracle signer key to submit fake price reports.

BonkDAO's treasury was drained of approximately $20 million by an attacker who bought BONK tokens to gain majority voting power and passed a proposal draining the treasury.

The hacks also highlighted the importance of operational security, with many protocols failing to secure their off-chain keys, oracle signers, and hot wallets. The incidents led to a contraction in DeFi's total value locked as users pulled funds from platforms seen as exposed.