Cardano Economic Exploits

Wherever value exists, there will always be malicious actors seeking to exploit the system built around it. This is extremely true of blockchains, especially DeFi protocols built on smart contract-enabled blockchains. The purpose of DeFi is to allow users to access and utilize financial tools in a permissionless and censorship-resistant manner. DeFi is starting to grow in Cardano, but there will be growing pains associated with growth as projects learn to build innovative new financial tools and models. Along the way, surely there will be those looking to find kinks in the armor of these new DeFi protocols and this page and GitHub repo are designed to help track lessons already learned and to help mitigate similar exploits.

The table below represents economic exploits particular to and/or target a specific protocol. Wallet drainers and other social engineering scams exist outside the control of protocols and are not subject to the design, implementation, or execution of a protocol. They represent economic opportunities where funds were lost either through the actions of an exploiter or system design failures.

Protocol	Date	Exploit Category	Amount Exploited in ADA	Amount Exploited in USD
Ray Network	10/2022	Franken Address Spoof Attack	412,253 ₳	$165,700
Liqwid Finance	1/2024	Faulty Oracle Transaction	12,345 ₳	$7,000