Defi Platform Radiant Capital Loses Digital Assets Worth $4.5 Million After Flash Loan Attack

Radiant Capital, a decentralized finance (defi) platform, confirmed on Jan. 3, 2023, that it fell victim to an attack which saw the “protocol accruing bad debt in the WETH market, totaling about 1.3% of total protocol TVL” or $4.5 million. Radiant Capital has urged the hackers to establish contact with the defi platform before law enforcement is brought in.

All Markets on Arbitrum Paused

Radiant Capital, a decentralized finance (defi) platform, has confirmed that it fell victim to a flash loan attack on Jan 2. The attack led to the “protocol accruing bad debt in the WETH market, totaling about 1.3% of total protocol TVL.” According to an assessment of the hack carried out by Peckshield, a blockchain analytics firm, Radiant Capital lost digital assets worth $4.5 million during the attack.

Today's hack on @RDNTCapital results in the loss of 1.9k eth (~$4.5m).

The root cause is not new: It basically exploits a time window when a new market is activated in a lending market (forked from the popular Compound/Aave). The exploitation also relies on a known rounding… https://t.co/XogWUVO3po pic.twitter.com/x5X9ql8AGA

— PeckShield Inc. (@peckshield) January 2, 2024

Peckshield stated that the attackers exploited a time window when a new market was activated in a lending market. The blockchain analytics firm said the attack would have been prevented if the new market was “activated with CF 0%.”

Meanwhile, in a statement shared via X on January 3, the defi platform revealed that the Radiant Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) Council has taken the precautionary step of pausing all markets on Arbitrum. It added that an investigation into the incident is already underway.

Radiant Capital Still Solvent

The defi platform, however, insisted in a social media post that the protocol not only remains solvent but is also taking steps to allow users affected by the attack to regain access to their funds.

“The Radiant protocol is solvent, & a remediation plan for the bad debt will be implemented to re-capitalize the protocol entirely & give users full access to their deposits. A proposed plan will also be implemented for users at risk of liquidation during the pause period to ensure no users are penalized unfairly,” the defi platform said.

In a warning to those behind the attack, Radiant Capital urged the hackers to establish contact with the defi platform before law enforcement is brought in. To users affected by the pause, Radiant Capital said it hopes to lift the pause within the next 24 hours.

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