Key Insights
- GMX suffered a $42 million exploit targeting its V1 GLP pool on Arbitrum, prompting the platform to halt V1 trading and GLP operations.
- The attacker quickly converted stolen funds across multiple assets, including USDC, ETH, DAI, FRAX, and wrapped tokens.
- GMX offered a 10% white-hat bounty and immunity from legal action if the hacker returns the remaining funds within 48 hours.
Decentralized perpetuals exchange GMX has suffered a significant security breach, with an attacker siphoning off approximately $42 million in digital assets from its GLP pool on the Arbitrum network early Wednesday.
The GMX team swiftly confirmed the exploit, which affected only the V1 version of the platform and specifically the GLP liquidity pool. In response, GMX halted all trading activities on V1, as well as minting and redeeming of GLP tokens on both Arbitrum and Avalanche, in a bid to prevent further damage and secure users’ assets. The newer GMX V2 platform, including its liquidity pools and trading markets, remains unaffected.
While a full post-mortem is still pending, onchain data reveals that the attacker systematically drained the GLP pool. The stolen funds were initially moved from USDC into ETH and subsequently converted into DAI. Additionally, the hacker made off with millions of dollars worth of FRAX, wrapped bitcoin, wrapped ETH, and other cryptocurrencies.
Blockchain security firm PeckShieldAlert shared a developer message addressed to the hacker via X (formerly Twitter), acknowledging the breach and extending an olive branch: a 10% white-hat bounty in exchange for the safe return of the funds. GMX also offered immunity from legal action if the stolen assets are returned within 48 hours.
According to Arkham Intelligence, a wallet associated with the hacker currently holds close to $44 million in assets.
Related: GMX Hacker Begins Returning Stolen Funds After Accepting $5M White-Hat Bounty
Launched in 2021 on Arbitrum One, GMX has grown into a prominent player in the DeFi space, offering up to 100x leveraged trading on assets such as bitcoin, ether, and avalanche. The platform reports a total trading volume of $305.5 billion and more than $229 million in open interest across a user base of 714,348 traders.
The exploit has already had a notable market impact. The price of GMX’s native token plunged by roughly 18%, dropping from $14.42 to $11.78.
As the investigation continues, GMX users and the broader DeFi community await further updates on how the attack unfolded—and whether the hacker will respond to the bounty offer.