S&P 5007,711.76▼0.2% Nasdaq26,402.42▼0.5% Dow53,560.00▼0.0% Russell 2K2,972.37▼1.4% 10-Yr4.72%+5bp VIX14.43−0.08 WTI$83.44▼0.1% Gold$4,504.10▼2.3% EUR/USD1.159▼0.6% BTC$77,878▲0.1% Nikkei66,132▼0.2%
At close · Sat, Aug 29, 2026
Daily Market Updates.

Crypto

HomeCryptoDeFiDeFi attackers exploit thin liquidity, causing $84M lo…

DeFi attackers exploit thin liquidity, causing $84M losses in days

Cronos halted block production after the larger Tectonic incident, with about $6 million bridged to Ethereum and swapped into roughly 2,600 ETH before the halt stopped additional asset movement.

Malicious actors exposed two DeFi lenders to more than $84 million in losses over four days by using a price-manipulation method that had already been flagged by US regulators, CryptoSlate reported.

The larger incident struck Tectonic on the Cronos blockchain, where security firm GoPlus estimated roughly $75 million was affected. GoPlus described an over-borrow attack in which the attacker repeatedly looped collateral and borrowing while pushing TONIC sharply higher within minutes, then used the expanded credit line to withdraw USDT and other liquid assets.

Tectonic’s handling of TONIC drove the exploit. GoPlus said TONIC could be deposited as collateral and Tectonic assigned it a collateral factor of about 20%, so as TONIC’s price rose the protocol automatically increased the value of the attacker’s position and borrowing capacity, estimated at about $75 million.

Cronos halted block production to contain the incident, but CryptoSlate said about $6 million had already been bridged to Ethereum and swapped into roughly 2,600 ETH. The blockchain remained halted as Cronos investigated with industry security teams, while Tectonic had not yet published a final accounting of losses, and an earlier attack hit Moonwell’s MAMO lending market on Base, leaving about $9.1 million in residual debt.

Latest closeEthereum $2,440.83 ▼0.1%

More like this

Sources

Get the close, explained.

One email every trading day: what moved, why it moved, and what's on deck tomorrow. Read in 3 minutes.

Free. Unsubscribe anytime.