Bitcoin, Ether, XRP Drop After Yearn DeFi Exploit
Major cryptocurrencies fell in early Asian trading on Monday following an “incident” in Yearn Finance’s yETH liquidity pool, extending a bruising end to November.
Bitcoin (BTC) slipped more than 3% to around $87,000, while Ethereum (ETH) fell 5%. Solana (SOL), Dogecoin (DOGE), and XRP all dropped over 4%, according to CoinDesk data.
Yearn’s X alert flagged an issue in its yETH pool but reassured users that V2 and V3 Vaults remained secure. Security reports suggest an attacker exploited a vulnerability to mint a large amount of yETH in a single transaction, draining roughly 1,000 ETH ($3 million), which was routed through mixers.
YETH is a user-governed liquidity pool token composed of Ethereum Liquid Staking Derivatives (LSTs). According to blockchain security firm PeckShield, the protocol lost $9 million in the exploit, with 1,000 ETH sent to Tornado Cash and the attacker retaining about $6 million in tokens.
The incident follows a recent multi-million-dollar hack at Korean exchange Upbit, highlighting persistent security risks in the crypto market despite rising institutional inflows.
The early Asian session sell-off triggered over $400 million in liquidations of leveraged crypto futures, mainly long positions, according to Coinglass, catching many traders off guard.
November ended with sharp losses: Bitcoin fell 17.5% for the month, its worst decline since March, while Ether dropped 22%, its steepest monthly fall since February.
Institutional demand also weakened. U.S.-listed spot BTC ETFs saw $3.48 billion in net outflows in November, the second-largest on record, while Ether ETFs posted a record $1.42 billion in outflows, according to SoSoValue.
The Yearn exploit underscores ongoing vulnerabilities in DeFi and the wider crypto ecosystem, showing that institutional inflows alone cannot eliminate market risks.
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