Decentralized Exchange KiloEX Freezes Platform Following $7.5M Exploit

Decentralized exchange KiloEX suspended its platform Tuesday after hackers drained $7.5m, marking the latest security breach in the area of decentralized finance.

In an announcement on April 14 via X, KiloEX confirmed it had halted operations immediately after detecting the exploit. The team said it contained the breach and launched an investigation alongside leading blockchain security companies.

“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. The exchange added it would soon launch a bounty program, offering rewards for assistance in recovering stolen assets.

🚨 Security Incident Announcement: KiloEx Vault Exploit

Dear KiloEx Community,
We regret to inform you that the KiloEx Vault has been exploited. The attacker’s wallet address is:
0x00fac92881556a90fdb19eae9f23640b95b4bcbd
We urge all partner protocols and platforms to…

— KiloEx (@KiloEx_perp) April 14, 2025

PeckShield Reveals Price Manipulation Behind $7.5m KiloEX Attack

Blockchain security firm PeckShield provided a breakdown of the exploit, detailing how attackers siphoned approximately $3.3m on BASE, $3.1m on opBNB, and an additional $1m on BSC.

According to PeckShield’s analysis, a flaw in the price oracle allowed the hacker to manipulate ETH/USD prices dramatically. The attacker opened a new position with ETH priced at 100 dollars, then immediately closed it with an artificially inflated value of 10,000 dollars, securing a $3.12m profit in one transaction alone.

The @KiloEx_perp protocol was hacked today with a loss of ~7.5m ($3.3m in base, $3.1m in opBNB, $1m in BSC).

The protocol is now paused! Our initial analysis on one exploit tx indicates a price oracle issue. And the hacker exploits it to create a new position with initial given…

— PeckShield Inc. (@peckshield) April 14, 2025

Collaborative Efforts Underway to Minimize Damage from Exploit

KiloEX said it has enlisted the support of blockchain networks and security experts. These include BNB Chain, Manta Network, Seal-911, SlowMist and Sherlock. Together, they are tracing and recovering stolen funds to minimize impact on users.

In the aftermath of this incident, investor confidence sharply declined. The price of KiloEX’s native token, Kilo, fell more than 31% to $0.0353, according to data from CoinGecko. The token has lost over 78 per cent of its value since reaching its record high of $0.1648 on March 27.

This hack comes shortly after last month’s breach at prominent crypto exchange Bybit, which saw attackers steal $1.5b in user funds, showing the vulnerabilities within decentralized finance platforms.