Hyperliquid’s JELLY exploit could happen to other DeFi protocols, expert warns

by Adolf Balistreri

An knowledgeable from Oak Security has explained what went substandard with the JELLY token exploit, which worth the Hyperliquid trade $10.63 million.

Reactions are nonetheless mounting from an exploit that worth Hyperliquid (HYPE) trade’s users $10.63 million in losses. The reactions appear to possess one facet in frequent, which is calling out Hyperliquid for its practices.

Dr. Jan Philipp Fritsche, managing director at Oak Security, shared his prognosis with crypto.news. In accordance to Fritsche, the exploit wasn’t caused by a worm, nevertheless reasonably became a predictable failure, one which can maybe maybe also pose a possibility to other DeFi protocols to boot.

The JELLY exploit appears to be like to be the implications of a coordinated market manipulation by several users. Particularly, one trader opened a $5 million short situation on JELLY, only to get rid of their margin. Hyperliquid became left conserving the situation, after which other traders coordinated a short squeeze.

“The attacker opened big opposing positions in JELLY, shiny that one facet would crumple and the exchange would cash out. Because payouts weren’t capped and possibility wasn’t isolated, the protocol ate the loss—and the attacker walked away with millions,“ Dr. Jan Philipp Fritsche, Oak Security

Fritsche described the exploit as a “textbook instance of unpriced vega possibility”, a thought from dilapidated finance that refers to the implied volatility of an asset. He emphasized that many DeFi protocols nonetheless fail to fable for this major possibility metric.

Hyperliquid beneath fire for JELLY exploit

This isn’t primarily the most major time trade figures possess criticized Hyperliquid over the Jelly incident. Following the exploit, Bitget CEO Gracy Chen known as the trade’s practices “immature, unethical, and unprofessional,” warning that it can maybe maybe also turned into FTX 2.0.

Even supposing Hyperliquid has pledged to compensate users stricken by the exploit, the damage to its reputation might maybe also already be done. More importantly, the exploit has drawn attention to broader vulnerabilities in the decentralized finance sector.

Chart displaying complete losses from crypto hacks, scams and exploits in 2024.

Crypto losses by class | Source: Hacken

In 2024, DeFi exploits worth users $308.7 million in losses. That became bigger than rug pulls, which accounted for $192.9 million. Appropriate days after the Jelly exploit, a DeFi protocol SIR.buying and selling fell victim to 1 other exploit, shedding all of its complete worth locked of $355,000.

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