Decentralized finance protocol for tokenizing the risk of debug events for stablecoins and liquid (re)staking tokens, Cork Protocol has suffered exploitation. In a post on its official X page on Wednesday, the protocol confirmed the loss of about $12 million in wrapped staked ETH or wstETH.
Cork Protocol attackers converts 3,761.87 wstETH to Ethereum
Security analytic firm, Cyvers also confirmed the exploitation, stating that the malicious contract was deployed by a wallet. The firm added that the wallet was likely funded by a service provider. According to the post, the attacker gained 3,761.87 wstETH which was converted to Ethereum.
At the time of writing this report, the stolen funds have not been scattered across several platforms. The protocol have also paused other markets as a precaution to avoid further impact. Cork Protocol co-founder, Phil Fogel also confirmed the attack, adding that more details will be rolled out as the investigation continues.
Over $1.63B lost to hackers within the first quarter of 2025
This year alone, the cryptocurrency industry has witnessed various exploitation including the Bybit hack which happened to be the biggest hack in history. In a report by PeckShield, the crypto industry in the first quarter of 2025 lost over $1.63B to hacks. March 2025 alone, over 20 crypto hacks were recorded, resulting in the loss of $33.46M.
In March, Real World Asset (RWA) re-staking protocol, Zoth lost $8.4M in assets to exploitation. The hackers compromised the protocol’s deployer wallet and withdrew the funds. The asset was later converted into $DAI and transferred to another wallet.
Also, in April, open source payment solution, UPCX suffered hackers exploitation which led to the loss of over $70 million worth of digital assets. As revealed, the attackers gained access to the payment platform by executing a function that permits admins to withdraw funds. After this, the hackers transferred funds from three different management accounts.
Earlier this month, Coinbase exchange also confirmed an extortion attempt against its customers by attackers. According to the exchange, the hackers gained access to its customers’ data through a group of rogue overseas support agents.
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