- The funds were moved from Hyperliquid to the Ethereum network via a bridge, swapped into ETH, and 752 ETH (worth nearly $3 million) was deposited into Tornado Cash
- Shortly after the withdrawals, the official social accounts of Hypervault disappeared or were deactivated
- In 2024, rug pulls accounted for 65% of all DeFi scams
PeckShield flagged a $3.6 million abnormal withdrawal from Hypervault, a DeFi vault project tied to Hyperliquid.
The funds were moved from Hyperliquid to the Ethereum network via a bridge, swapped into ETH, and 752 ETH (worth nearly $3 million) was deposited into Tornado Cash, which is a mixing service commonly used to hide transaction trails.
Shortly after the withdrawals, the official social accounts of Hypervault disappeared or were deactivated, including X, Discord, and the official website.
Related: Arthur Hayes Exits HYPE Position Weeks After Predicting 126x Surge
The project was advertised as a vault that would automatically grow users’ deposits by earning yield from lending and trading fees. Some people in the crypto community had already issued warning signs about the project’s audits and whether it was trustworthy.
For users in the Hyperliquid ecosystem, this scam will likely make people much more suspicious of yield-generating vaults, especially those that haven’t been properly audited or don’t have clear rules.
The event also puts pressure on the Hyperliquid team itself to improve how it checks and monitors the projects built on its network.
DeFi hacks and scams
Hypervault isn’t an isolated case, as there seems to be a rising trend of DeFi rug pull exploits. According to CoinLaw, in 2024, rug pulls accounted for 65% of all DeFi scams. In general, cryptocurrency rug pulls and Ponzi schemes resulted in losses totaling an astonishing $4.6 billion.
Also, the average amount stolen in each rug pull went up, from $410,000 in 2023 to $510,000 in 2025.
Just in August alone, PeckShield reports that there were 16 major crypto hacks, causing total losses of $163 million. This is 15% higher than the $142 million lost in July.
There are likely several reasons why these scams keep happening and why they are successful.
For instance, while blockchain’s open nature makes things transparent, it also lets scammers study code to find weaknesses to attack. Because DeFi is decentralized, there’s often no company or government to complain to if you lose funds, particularly if they’re overseas.
Fraudsters also take advantage of people’s excitement and desire for quick, high profits, which can lead to rushed decisions and subsequently, losses.
Related: More Than 40% of Americans Are Open to DeFi, But Only with Regulations
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