DeFi Exchange Mango Markets Will Soon Start Refunding Users for $114M Exploit

Mango Markets, the decentralized crypto exchange (DEX) that suffered an exploit earlier this month, will soon start refunding users for the $114 million exploit.

The DEX had earlier said that its decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), entities that are owned and governed by their members without any central leadership, would vote on how to refund users.

"The program for depositors to recover funds is in audit and should be ready to go by tomorrow morning. Much thanks to all the Mango contributors working tirelessly to make this happen," Mango Labs co-founder Daffy Durairaj said in a tweet.

A group of exploiters drained the marketplace of $114 million worth of crypto, by manipulating the price of the DEX's native token MNGO.

DEXs like Mango rely on smart contracts to match trades between users. Smart contracts are wholly decentralized and are not overseen by a centralized party – which means a rogue trader can deploy enough money to exploit loopholes in any protocol without the risk of anyone stepping in to stop the attack before it takes place.

One of the apparent exploiters, Avraham Eisenberg, came forward last week and said that the group had returned $67 million to the Solana-based exchange.

Read more: How Market Manipulation Led to a $100M Exploit on Solana DeFi Exchange Mango

CORRECTION (Oct. 20, 12:20 UTC): Corrects headline and story to say the funds will be refunded.