Deep Dive
1. $113M Cross-Chain Exploit (1 November 2025)
Overview:
Balancer suffered a $113M loss across Ethereum, Base, and Polygon due to a precision-loss bug in v2 Composable Stable Pools. The attack exploited fixed-point arithmetic errors during swaps, draining funds from multiple forks like Beets and Beethoven.
What this means:
This is bearish for BAL as it erodes trust in legacy infrastructure, though v3 pools remain unaffected. Immediate liquidity withdrawals and protocol fee revenue declines could pressure BAL’s already weak price (-45% YTD).
(Cointribune)
2. Venus Protocol Halts BAL Collateral (3 November 2025)
Overview:
Venus Protocol disabled new borrowing against BAL on Ethereum, citing “abundance of caution” post-exploit. Existing positions retain 59% liquidation threshold.
What this means:
Neutral-to-bearish – reduces BAL utility as collateral but prevents cascading liquidations. BAL’s 24h volume surged 73% to $4.6M, suggesting volatile trading amid risk reassessment.
(Venus Protocol)
3. Balancer Proposes v2 Pool Sunset (10 November 2025)
Overview:
Balancer Labs introduced a governance proposal to deprecate v2 stable pools, urging LPs to migrate to v3. This follows audits revealing systemic v2 vulnerabilities.
What this means:
Bullish long-term – accelerates adoption of v3’s enhanced security and hooks architecture. However, short-term TVL outflows are likely as LPs transition, potentially impacting protocol fees.
(Balancer)
Conclusion
Balancer faces a critical juncture: its response to the historic exploit and v3 migration will determine its ability to regain market confidence. While security upgrades signal maturity, BAL’s -79% annual price decline underscores skepticism. Will accelerated v3 adoption offset lingering trust deficits in Q1 2026?