$46 million stolen from decentralized exchange

Decentralized exchange (DEX) KyberSwap has fallen victim to a exploit in which $46 million in cryptocurrencies were stolen. KyberSwap announced this via X and called on DEX users to withdraw their money as soon as possible.

Most of the stolen tokens were Wrapped Ether (wETH; worth $20 million), Wrapped Lido-staked Ether (wstETH; worth $7 million) and Arbitrum (ARB; worth $4 million).

All hope is not lost, however, as the striker left a message on the chain: "Negotiations will begin in a few hours once I am fully recovered."

According to data from DefiLlama the DEX's Total Value Locked has collapsed in the wake of the attack, with more than $80 million in customer assets currently withdrawn from KyberSwap. KyberSwap is now miles away from its 2021 TVL (total value locked) record, which put the decentralized exchange at nearly $550 million on August 15, 2021: it currently stands at just $7.78 million at the time of DefiLlama's writing on the DEX.

It remains to be seen if negotiations between the team and the striker end positively and the decentralized exchange can fight its way back to the 2021 all-time high.

A few hours after the exploit was announced, the team behind KyberSwap released a update out on X: a compensation plan was in place. Users who lost their assets would be compensated through KNC. The decentralized exchange is now safe again.