Nexera, a DeFi protocol, recently fell victim to a smart contract security breach that led to the theft of $1.5 million in NXRA tokens. As a result of this incident, the value of the protocol’s native token plummeted by more than 40%. The breach was initially reported by Cyvers, a blockchain security firm, on August 7 via a message on X, where they mentioned detecting a suspicious transaction involving Nexera’s proxy contract. The attacker managed to gain control of the proxy contract and upgraded it to access administrative functions, ultimately using the withdraw admin function to transfer all available NXRA tokens from the contract.
Following the hack, the price of the NXRA token experienced a significant drop. CoinGecko data reveals that NXRA decreased by 43.2% and is currently being traded at $0.0343. The token hit an all-time low of $0.01942 on the same day as the breach, but it has since recovered by 76.5% from that low. This sharp decline in price highlights the immediate market response to the security breach and the impact it had on investor confidence in the Nexera protocol.
The malicious actor behind this breach has been linked to previous private key compromises affecting other platforms like SpaceCatch, Concentric Finance, OKX DEX, Serenity Shield, and Reach. On-chain investigator ZachXBT noted that teams are still falling victim to similar scams even after nearly a year since the first incidents occurred. This history of exploitation raises concerns about the security practices employed by DeFi platforms and the ongoing threats posed by sophisticated attackers in the space.
The Nexera breach adds to a series of high-profile security breaches within the DeFi sector. Just a day prior to this incident, the Ronin Network was exploited for $9.8 million worth of ETH, although the funds were returned by a suspected white hat hacker shortly thereafter. Additionally, less than three weeks ago, a hacker stole over $230 million from WazirX, making it the second-largest cryptocurrency hack of 2024. These repeated security breaches underscore the vulnerability of DeFi platforms to sophisticated attacks and highlight the need for enhanced security measures and risk mitigation strategies within the ecosystem.