On August 2022, Circle was exploited in a price manipulation, resulting in approximately $151.6K in losses. That makes the Circle exploit the 184th largest DeFi incident out of 690 documented in our archive.
Attack Mechanics: How the Circle Price Manipulation Played Out
Exploit Class Applied to Circle
The Circle incident on August 16, 2022 is classified as a Price Manipulation. The attacker drives the on-chain price of a token up or down within a single transaction to extract value from the protocol. In the full archive, Circle is 1 of 85 documented price manipulation incidents.
Circle in Context
At $151.6K, the Circle exploit is a minor (<$1M) event compared to the largest same-class incident in our archive — CreamFinance (2021) at $130M.
Prior Price Manipulation Before Circle
The nearest price manipulation incident before Circle was Circle, 3 days earlier on August 13, 2022 ($50.5K lost). The same exploit class surfaced again within the price manipulation attack surface.
Impact & Recovery for Circle
Circle Loss Figure
The Circle exploit caused $151,600 in losses — a minor (<$1M) incident and the 20th largest of 129 documented in 2022. This single incident represents 0.1% of all tracked losses that year.
Where Circle Sits Among Price Manipulation Attacks
Ranked by loss size, Circle is the 22nd largest of 85 price manipulation incidents documented. That puts the Circle loss below the class average of $3.9M.
Timeline Since the Circle Incident
The Circle exploit occurred 3.7 years ago (1,337 days). The contract, its fork-block, and the attack transaction remain on-chain and forensically reproducible.
Primary Reference for Circle
Public post-mortem / on-chain analysis for the Circle incident: view source.
FAQ
How much did Circle lose?
The Circle exploit in August 2022 resulted in $151,600 in losses — the 20th largest of 129 DeFi incidents that year.
When did the Circle hack happen?
The Circle exploit was recorded on August 16, 2022 — 1,337 days ago.
What type of exploit hit Circle?
The Circle incident is classified as a Price Manipulation. The attacker drives the on-chain price of a token up or down within a single transaction to extract value from the protocol.
How common is the Price Manipulation pattern seen at Circle?
Our archive contains 85 documented price manipulation incidents. The Circle incident is one of them.
How does Circle compare to the largest Price Manipulation attack?
The largest price manipulation incident in our archive is CreamFinance (2021) at $130M. The Circle loss is $151.6K.
How do the document's findings contribute to the understanding of Ethereum's economic ecosystem?
The findings reveal dynamic causal relationships between transaction fees and various economic activities, informing strategic considerations for network stakeholders.
What challenge does the protocol aim to address regarding multi-party transactions across blockchains?
It aims to enable secure and private multi-party transactions without the need for a trusted third party or revealing transaction details to the network.