DeFi Protocol Balancer Hacked: $116.6 Million Drained in Attack

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The DeFi world woke up to another major blow on November 3, 2025, after Balancer, a popular decentralized finance protocol, was hit by a major exploit draining over $116.6 million worth of assets across multiple blockchains.

The hack drained large amounts of osETH, WETH, and wstETH, raising fresh concerns about DeFi protocol security.

Here’s how the attached happened?

How the Balancer Hack Happened?

According to data shared by on-chain analytics firm Lookonchain, the exploit began with a massive outflow of funds from Balancer Vaults. Analysts believe the hacker took advantage of a faulty access control vulnerability within Balancer’s boosted pools that use Ether-based derivatives.

The attacker drained around $116.6 million from the Ethereum mainnet alone, followed by similar incidents across Base, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, and Sonic networks.

The transfers included major crypto assets such as 6,587 WETH (worth $24.46 million), 6,851 osETH ($26.86 million), and 4,259 wstETH ($19.27 million). 

Impact Extends Beyond Balancer

Interestingly, the attack didn’t just stop with Balancer. Its forked version, Beets on the Sonic network, also reported losses. This suggests the exploit targeted a shared vulnerability in the codebase that connects to the same liquidity infrastructure.

Meanwhile, transaction data shows that the stolen funds were transferred through Balancer’s vault contracts to a single wallet address 0x506D19…AE03207,  which then interacted with another contract to execute multiple token swaps.

Community and Security Response

Blockchain security firm PeckShield quickly confirmed the breach, urging users to revoke all Balancer-related approvals and monitor wallet activity. Lookonchain also released transaction details showing the attacker’s movement of stolen funds between multiple vault addresses, typical of laundering attempts through decentralized exchanges.

As of now, Balancer has not issued an official statement, but its Discord moderators have warned users against interacting with suspicious contracts or new liquidity pools until further notice.