KiloEx Confirms $7.5M Attack Has Been Contained

KiloEx, a decentralized exchange backed by Binance Labs, has fallen victim to a major security breach resulting in a loss of $7.5 million, believed to have stemmed from a price oracle vulnerability.

On April 14, decentralized exchange KiloEx announced it had been exploited, with hackers stealing approximately $7.5 million. The platform was immediately suspended, and the team is now working with security partners to trace the stolen funds.

According to KiloEx, the situation has been contained. The team is currently collaborating with partners such as BNB Chain, Manta Network, and leading cybersecurity firms including Seal-911, SlowMist, and Sherlock to investigate the breach. The stolen assets have reportedly been routed through zkBridge and Meson, and the team is urgently reaching out to both protocols to halt further transactions and mitigate additional losses.

Cybersecurity firm PeckShield suggested that the exploit likely originated from a price oracle vulnerability—where the smart contract relies on manipulated or inaccurate price data. PeckShield reported that the attacker was able to artificially inflate the ETH/USD price from 100 to 10,000 in a short time span, opening and closing a trading position in a single transaction and netting $3.12 million in profit.

Chaofan Shou, co-founder of blockchain analytics firm Fuzzland, also pointed to the oracle issue, noting that anyone could change KiloEx’s price oracle due to weak verification mechanisms. He described it as “a very simple vulnerability” despite its severe impact.

The incident caused KiloEx’s native token, KILO, to plunge over 27%, trading at $0.03596—down more than 78% from its all-time high in late March. KiloEx was founded in 2023 with backing from Binance Labs, which serves as a strategic investor in the project.

Notably, the exploit occurred just one day after KiloEx announced a strategic partnership with Dubai-based Web3 investment firm DWF Labs, aimed at expanding market reach and accelerating platform growth. In March, DWF Labs launched a $250 million Liquid Fund to support mid- and large-cap blockchain projects and promote real-world adoption of Web3 technologies.