Nikolas Sargeant
Decentralized exchange KiloEX suspended all platform operations Tuesday after hackers exploited vulnerabilities to steal $7.5 million across multiple blockchains, adding to the growing list of DeFi security incidents this year.
In an April 14 announcement on X, KiloEX confirmed it had immediately halted all trading activity after detecting the breach. The team stated they had contained the exploit and initiated a comprehensive investigation alongside several blockchain security firms.
"The exploit has been contained. The team has immediately suspended platform usage and is working with security partners to trace the flow of funds," the statement read. KiloEX also announced plans to launch a bounty program offering rewards for assistance in recovering the stolen assets.
Price Oracle Vulnerability Enabled Multi-Million Dollar Theft
Security firm PeckShield released a detailed analysis of the attack, revealing that funds were drained across three networks: approximately $3.3 million from BASE, $3.1 million from opBNB, and $1 million from BSC.
The investigation determined that attackers exploited a critical flaw in KiloEX's price oracle system, allowing for dramatic ETH/USD price manipulation. In one particularly profitable transaction, the attacker opened a position with ETH valued at $100, then immediately closed it after artificially inflating the price to $10,000, netting $3.12 million in a single operation.
Industry Collaboration Mobilized to Track Stolen Funds
KiloEX has assembled a response team including BNB Chain, Manta Network, Seal-911, SlowMist, and Sherlock to trace and potentially recover the stolen assets, aiming to minimize impact on platform users.
The security breach has severely impacted investor confidence, with KiloEX's native token Kilo plummeting more than 31% to $0.0353 according to CoinGecko data. The token has now lost over 78% of its value since reaching its all-time high of $0.1648 on March 27.
This incident follows last month's $1.5 billion breach at crypto exchange Bybit, highlighting persistent security challenges within the decentralized finance ecosystem.
