Radiant Capital Shuts Down After $50M Hack, 18-Month Recovery Fails
In brief
- Radiant Capital announced Monday it is winding down after 18 months of failed recovery from a $50 million October 2024 exploit.
- The omnichain money market has not recovered meaningful funds since the hack across Arbitrum and BNB Chain.
- Radiant will shift to maintenance mode, allowing users to withdraw, repay, and manage positions.
- The closure follows a flash loan attack in early 2024 that cost the protocol $4.5 million.
- Any recovered funds will be returned to affected users, Radiant said.
The October exploit and its aftermath
In October 2024, Radiant Capital suffered an exploit on its Arbitrum and BNB Chain instances after an attacker deployed a backdoor contract. The attack caused $51 million in losses across both chains. This wasn't the protocol's first brush with security failure — earlier in 2024, a flash loan attack drained approximately 1,900 ETH, worth roughly $4.5 million at the time.
The October incident proved insurmountable. Radiant spent the next 18 months working to recover funds and stabilize the protocol. Contributors and community members continued operating under what the DAO described as "increasingly difficult conditions." But recovery and fresh capital never materialized.
Maintenance mode and next steps
Radiant will transition into a "maintenance state" where the frontend and smart contracts remain live and accessible. Users can still withdraw funds, repay debt, and manage their positions during this period. The protocol said if any funds are retrieved during recovery efforts, they will be returned to those affected.
The closure reflects a broader security crisis in crypto. DeFi Llama reported that the number of crypto hacks rose to a record monthly high in April, with the total number of exploits easily exceeding 20 for what appears to be the first time ever. Radiant's shutdown marks one of the larger casualties in an escalating pattern of protocol-level compromises.
