Platypus DeFi Hit by $2.2M Flash Loan Loss

Platypus, a protocol for decentralized financing (DeFi), has lost over $2 million in assets due to another flash loan exploit on its platform.

In response to the assault, the protocol paused all of its pools. According to the blockchain security platform CertiK, the DeFi platform was attacked three times, resulting in $2.23 million in losses.

The first assault took place on October 12 and extracted $1.2 million from the platform. A second assault occurred hours later, resulting in the theft of assets worth $575,000. A minute later, the third attack occurred, resulting in the loss of $450,000 in assets.

Platypus is an automated market maker (AMM) protocol that enables the trading of digital assets autonomously through the use of liquidity pools, as opposed to more traditional markets with buyers and sellers.

In 2021, the platform raised $3.3 million in a funding round led by the defunct Three Arrows Capital. In a flash loan attack, traders exploit a vulnerability that permits them to instantly borrow cryptocurrency without supplying the required collateral.

CertiK observed that the recent flash loan attack represents the third assault on Platypus in 2023.

On February 16, the protocol lost $8.5 million due to a similar exploit, which also resulted in the depegging of the Platypus USD (USP) stablecoin, causing its price to drop from $1 to $0.48.

According to CertiK, the protocol lost approximately $157,000 in July due to a flash loan exploit. In March, the DeFi protocol established a compensation portal for assault victims who had lost assets in February.

The portal was utilized so that users could determine how much compensation they were eligible to receive from the platform and voice any concerns before the distribution of funds.