On-Chain Diligence: Venus Recovers $11.4 million Stolen in Phishing

- Venus Protocol returns $11.4 million in cryptocurrency to Eureka Trading CEO Kuan Sun. - The recovery highlights the rising threat of phishing scams within the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector. Venus Protocol, a decentralized lending platform, successfully returned $11.4 million in cryptocurrency assets to Eureka Trading CEO Kuan Sun after an attacker stole the funds through a phishing exploit. The incident occurred on September 2, 2025, when Sun, while using a fraudulent version of Zoom, unintentionally authorized a malicious transaction that granted the attacker access to his funds. 2025-09-08 On September 8, The Block reported that Venus Protocol and on-chain security firms coordinated to partially recover the stolen cryptocurrency, which was valued at approximately $13 million at the time of the attack. The recovery process, which took less than 12 hours, involved several key actions, including the team freezing operations, conducting a community-approved forced liquidation of the attacker’s wallet, and utilizing the expertise of security firms PeckShield, Hexagate, and Hypernative Labs. Venus Protocol clarified that its platform was not directly breached during the attack. This phishing incident underscores broader concerns about the growing prevalence of scams targeting the decentralized finance sector. In the first half of 2025 alone, phishing exploits accounted for $410 million in losses across the industry. Despite these challenges, Venus Protocol’s rapid response and recovery efforts demonstrated effective coordination and community engagement. According to market data from The Block, the Venus (XVS) token initially declined in value following the incident. However, it has since rebounded to its pre-incident price levels. Meanwhile, the broader stablecoin market remained relatively stable on September 8. According to CoinMarketCap data at 07:10 UTC, USDC was trading at $1, with its 24-hour trading volume up by 0.004%. First Digital USD (FDUSD) was priced at $0.998, a 0.022% change in the same timeframe, while Tether USDt (USDT) held at $1 as its 24-hour trading activity decreased by 0.016%.