Thomas Daniels
Solana-based decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Loopscale has successfully recovered approximately $2.8 million of the $5.8 million lost in a recent exploit, following ongoing negotiations with the attacker. The breach, which occurred on April 26, 2025, involved manipulation of the RateX PT token pricing, allowing the attacker to drain funds from Loopscale’s USDC and SOL vaults.
In response, Loopscale offered a 10% bounty and full release of liability to the exploiter in exchange for the return of 90% of the stolen funds. The attacker has since returned a total of 19,463 Wrapped SOL (WSOL), valued at approximately $2.88 million. The first two returns comprised 10,000 WSOL ($1.48 million) and 4,463 WSOL ($660,000), following an earlier recovery of 5,000 WSOL (~$740,000).
The exploit impacted approximately 12% of Loopscale’s total funds, affecting only vault depositors, not borrowers or loopers. Loopscale has since suspended lending operations and is working closely with law enforcement and security experts to investigate the incident and recover the remaining funds.
This incident highlights the ongoing vulnerabilities within the DeFi sector. In the first quarter of 2025 alone, hackers stole over $1.6 billion worth of cryptocurrency from exchanges and on-chain smart contracts. A significant portion of those losses stemmed from a $1.5 billion attack on centralized exchange Bybit, reportedly orchestrated by North Korean hacking group Lazarus.
Loopscale’s proactive approach in negotiating with the attacker and recovering a substantial portion of the stolen funds sets a precedent for how DeFi platforms can respond to such breaches. The platform continues its efforts toward full recovery and has committed to keeping its users informed throughout the process.
