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Alpha Finance Lab

avoid.net/alpha-finance-lab48/100·72% conf.
[AI-DRAFTED · AWAITING VERIFICATION]

Auto-generated score, not yet verified against the scoring model. Under review — treat as indicative, not a verdict.

anchored·31CVqa…wpTU

Summary

Alpha Finance Lab (also known as Alpha Venture DAO, later rebranded to Stella) is a DeFi protocol builder founded in 2020 and best known for Alpha Homora, the first leveraged yield farming protocol on Ethereum. In February 2021, a vulnerability in Alpha Homora V2's own smart contract code was exploited by a third party, resulting in approximately $37.5 million drained from Cream Finance's Iron Bank through an uncollateralized protocol-to-protocol lending arrangement. Alpha bore primary responsibility for the exploited vulnerability; subsequent disputes over the resulting bad debt led to Iron Bank freezing approximately $41 million in Alpha Homora user deposits on Ethereum in March 2023, a dispute that as of mid-2023 remained unresolved with Iron Bank, with Alpha establishing a goodwill compensation fund for affected depositors.

Connected Entities

1 entities
Protocols
Alpha Finance Lab
Relationships
  • + 9 more

Connected Through

1 shared actor · 1 investigation

Distinct actors this investigation shares with others — holders, traders, and named parties. Shared infrastructure (exchanges, pools) is excluded.

Have evidence about Alpha Finance Lab?

Timeline(9 events)

October 2020

Alpha Finance Lab launches Alpha Homora, the first leveraged yield farming protocol in DeFi, and the ALPHA token via Binance Launchpad.

Kriptomat / Consensys overview

5 February 2021

ALPHA token reaches all-time high price of approximately $2.93.

dExplain — What Happened to Alpha Finance

13 February 2021

A third-party attacker exploits vulnerabilities in Alpha Homora V2's smart contract code, draining approximately $37.5 million from Cream Finance's Iron Bank. The root cause is identified as multiple flaws in Alpha Homora's own contracts, including an undisclosed sUSD pool, a rounding error in the borrow function, and a permissionless resolveReserve function.

Alpha Homora V2 Post Mortem — Alpha Venture DAO / CoinTelegraph

14 February 2021

Alpha Finance Lab and Cream Finance publish a joint repayment plan: 1,000 ETH each from attacker-returned funds, 20% of Alpha Homora protocol fees monthly, interest freeze on exploit-derived debt, and 50 million ALPHA tokens locked as collateral (then worth ~$109 million at a 2x ratio).

Joint Announcement on Funds Repayment — Alpha Venture DAO blog

September 2021

Alpha Finance Lab announces transition to Alpha Venture DAO, adding Alpha Incubate as an incubation arm for Web3 projects.

Alpha Finance Lab Launches Alpha Venture DAO — Bitcoinist

March 2023

Iron Bank unilaterally modifies its Ethereum smart contracts to prevent Alpha Homora from withdrawing assets, freezing approximately $41 million in Alpha Homora user deposits on Ethereum, after repayment progress is found to be minimal ($481,746 repaid over two years out of ~$32 million owed). Iron Bank subsequently restores access on Optimism, Avalanche, and Fantom.

Iron Bank tells Alpha Homora to take ownership of its bad debt — The Block

2 March 2023

Alpha Venture DAO publishes an open letter disputing Iron Bank's actions and proposes Iron Bank retain ~$32M to settle the debt while returning ~$8.7M in excess user funds.

An Open Letter to Iron Bank — Alpha Venture DAO blog

May 2023

Alpha Homora depositors vote to cease negotiations with Iron Bank and accept a goodwill fund established by Alpha Homora: 30 million ALPHA tokens vested over 18 months plus 50% of protocol fees, with depositors also voting to pursue legal action against Iron Bank.

Tenth Open Letter: Goodwill Fund — Alpha Venture DAO blog

2024

Alpha Homora's leveraged yield farming product is rebranded to Stella, focusing on a zero-cost borrowing model and expanding to Arbitrum. The ALPHA token continues to serve as the governance and fee-sharing token.

Stella — the Leveraged Strategies Protocol — Messari
Provenance & Audit Trail

Decision Log

  • #3review revise+16⛓ pending8/19/2026, 12:33:08 PM
    hash: 6FhewrepwAcu9ojJeJ3zYPYkbM9hguwUfSnE8mhyD5yK
  • #2review⛓ pending8/19/2026, 12:33:08 PM
    hash: CkZqf7YWP9tveL1NFW42rLvW8gVHTEDj2BnkJQSv6d1p
  • #1publish⛓ anchored · slot 4233244375/31/2026, 6:58:45 AM
    hash: bZgmDj1cvWaN2aBmmUq6HbLYFrvARSteC6AEJcCUayW

This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (1 event). 16 of 22 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.

model: claude-sonnet-4-6

generated: 5/31/2026, 6:58:42 AM

last updated: 8/20/2026, 6:56:58 AM

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