In the early hours of today, the DeFi world was rocked by two significant exploits, leading to substantial financial losses.

First, Sonne Finance, a decentralized liquidity provider, fell victim to a $20 million exploit on its Optimism network-based USDC and Wrapped Ethereum (WETH) contracts, as reported by blockchain security firm Cyvers. The exploit, attributed to a donation attack on its Compound v2 forks, occurred despite Sonne Finance's past efforts to mitigate such risks. An integration attempt of VELO into the Optimism market opened the door for the attacker, resulting in the loss. Despite experts preventing an additional $6.5 million theft, the aftermath saw Sonne Finance's digital asset, SONNE, plummet by over 60%.

Meanwhile, ALEX Lab, a Bitcoin DeFi application, suffered a loss of over $4 million in various tokens due to a hacking incident. CertiK reported that attackers likely gained access to the private key controlling ALEX’s XLink bridge, enabling them to transfer tokens across different blockchains. The hackers successfully moved significant amounts of BTC, stablecoins, and other tokens. While ALEX Lab developers identified the attacker and froze a substantial portion of the stolen funds, they offered a 10% bounty for compliance, emphasizing their commitment to resolving the issue without further pursuit or law enforcement involvement.