On October 2021, Indexed Finance was exploited in a price manipulation, resulting in approximately $16M in losses. That makes the Indexed Finance exploit the 23rd largest DeFi incident out of 690 documented in our archive.
Attack Mechanics: How the Indexed Finance Price Manipulation Played Out
Exploit Class Applied to Indexed Finance
The Indexed Finance incident on October 15, 2021 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, Indexed Finance is 1 of 85 documented price manipulation incidents.
Indexed Finance in Context
At $16M, the Indexed Finance exploit is a major ($10M–$100M) event compared to the largest same-class incident in our archive — CreamFinance (2021) at $130M.
Prior Price Manipulation Before Indexed Finance
The nearest price manipulation incident before Indexed Finance was WaultFinace, 72 days earlier on August 4, 2021. The same exploit class surfaced again within the price manipulation attack surface.
Impact & Recovery for Indexed Finance
Indexed Finance Loss Figure
The Indexed Finance exploit caused $16,000,000 in losses — a major ($10M–$100M) incident and the 4th largest of 37 documented in 2021. This single incident represents 7.6% of all tracked losses that year.
Where Indexed Finance Sits Among Price Manipulation Attacks
Ranked by loss size, Indexed Finance is the 4th largest of 85 price manipulation incidents documented. That puts the Indexed Finance loss above the class average of $3.9M.
Timeline Since the Indexed Finance Incident
The Indexed Finance exploit occurred 4.5 years ago (1,642 days). The contract, its fork-block, and the attack transaction remain on-chain and forensically reproducible.
Primary Reference for Indexed Finance
Public post-mortem / on-chain analysis for the Indexed Finance incident: view source.
FAQ
How much did Indexed Finance lose?
The Indexed Finance exploit in October 2021 resulted in $16,000,000 in losses — the 4th largest of 37 DeFi incidents that year.
When did the Indexed Finance hack happen?
The Indexed Finance exploit was recorded on October 15, 2021 — 1,642 days ago.
What type of exploit hit Indexed Finance?
The Indexed Finance 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 Indexed Finance?
Our archive contains 85 documented price manipulation incidents. The Indexed Finance incident is one of them.
How does Indexed Finance compare to the largest Price Manipulation attack?
The largest price manipulation incident in our archive is CreamFinance (2021) at $130M. The Indexed Finance loss is $16M.
What is a significant challenge of blockchain implementation in supply chains as of the study?
Scalability, privacy, and interoperability issues are significant challenges.
What mechanism is used to penalize validators for misconduct?
Slashing, which involves reducing the stake of validators who commit offenses and possibly ejecting them from the validator pool.