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Venus Protocol Exploited for $3.7 Million Through Thena Collateral Manipulation

Investigators attribute the loss to a donation-attack bypass that left roughly $2 million in bad debt.

Overview

  • On-chain analysis shows the exploiter sent THE directly to Venus’s vTHE contract to bypass supply caps and, using oracle lag, looped deposits and borrows to inflate collateral.
  • The attacker borrowed 6.67 million CAKE, 1.58 million USDC, 2,801 BNB, and 20 Bitcoin before positions were pushed into liquidation as prices whipsawed.
  • Venus paused all THE borrowing and withdrawals and froze several higher-risk markets, including BCH, LTC, UNI, AAVE, FIL, and TWT, while the investigation continues.
  • Analyst estimates place uncollateralized debt at about $1.7 million to $2.15 million concentrated in THE and CAKE markets, with the protocol confirming the scope of impact.
  • Tracing links the attacker’s initial funding to Tornado Cash, and some researchers report the exploiter may have realized little or no net profit due to liquidation dynamics.