The decentralized finance protocol has become the latest victim of cyber thieves
The Penpie protocol, a decentralized finance (DeFi) project operating on the Pendle platform, experienced a severe security breach yesterday. The attack resulted in the theft of $27 million from client funds. The breach has sent shockwaves through the DeFi community and raised concerns about the security of digital finance systems.
The hack was traced back to an address with the identifier “bb7,” among several other addresses used by the attacker. In response to the breach, Penpie has temporarily halted all deposits and withdrawals to prevent further losses. The protocol’s team is actively investigating the incident and working to secure their systems.
Pendle, the platform hosting Penpie, has also taken measures to reassure users by pausing all contracts and ensuring that customer funds on their end remain unaffected. This incident highlights the ongoing challenges facing the DeFi sector, where security vulnerabilities continue to pose significant risks.
The Penpie exploit is part of a troubling trend in 2024, with cryptocurrency hacks and exploits becoming increasingly frequent. According to a recent Immunefi report, over $1.2 billion has been stolen across 154 separate incidents this year. The decentralized finance space has been particularly hard hit, though centralized finance systems have also faced substantial losses due to the large amounts of capital they handle.
In August alone, security firm PeckShield reported that hack-related losses exceeded $313 million. Significant attacks during the month included the theft of approximately $238 million in Bitcoin and $55 million in Dai. Additionally, phishing attacks have surged, with Scam Sniffer reporting a 215% increase in monetary losses from such exploits in August compared to the previous month.
