Lien Finance
Last changed 2026-10-10 · Score recalculated — Rescored under Scoring v2, the published formula (avoid.net/scoring): 22 → 55. Problems weighed by who is responsible: incidents the subject suffered −20, problems around the subject, caused by others −0.8; legitimacy credit long-running +10; the penalty for incidents it suffered is capped at 20; a recent unresolved incident −8.6. Version history →
Why this score
| Every page starts at | 65 |
| Incidents it suffered (e.g. hacks) | -20 |
| Problems around it, caused by others | -0.8 |
| Long-running | +10 |
| Recent unresolved incident | -8.6 |
| Sum | 46 |
- The penalty for incidents it suffered is capped at 20 points.
Score: 55/100 (kept between 0 and 100)
How scoring works →Summary
Lien Finance is a governance-free Ethereum DeFi protocol launched in August 2020 that enables users to create options and stablecoins by tranching ETH deposits into two derivative bond tokens (SBT and LBT). On July 24, 2026, the protocol was exploited for approximately 542,144 USDC through manipulation of its permissionless bond registration system and a flawed OTC pricing function. This is the protocol's second significant security incident, following a September 2020 near-miss in which a whitehat coalition rescued approximately $10 million from a related BondMaker contract vulnerability.
Connected Entities
4 entities · 60 linked investigations- Lien Finance→mentioned with→Ethereum(80%)
- Lien Finance→mentioned with→Arbitrum(70%)
- Lien Finance→mentioned with→AFX Trade(80%)
- Arbitrum→mentioned with→Ethereum(80%)
- AFX Trade→mentioned with→Ethereum(80%)
- AFX Trade→mentioned with→Arbitrum(80%)
Timeline(5 events)
April 2020
Lien Finance publishes its initial whitepaper covering the iDOL stablecoin design.
Coinranking — What is Lien (LIEN)?August 2020
Lien Protocol launches on Ethereum mainnet following audits by ConsenSys Diligence and CertiK. LIEN tokens distributed via airdrop to early contributors and beta testers.
Coinranking — What is Lien (LIEN)?15 September 2020
Security researcher samczsun identifies a critical vulnerability in Lien Finance's BondMaker contract, which holds approximately 25,000 ETH (~$10M). A whitehat coalition including samczsun, ConsenSys Diligence researcher Alexander Wade, and Scott Bigelow executes a rescue operation, moving all user funds to safety before exploitation. No funds are lost.
Sep 2020 — Lien Finance Rescued — Quadriga Initiative16 September 2020
Lien Finance publishes an incident analysis on Medium acknowledging the BondMaker contract vulnerability and confirming all user funds were returned.
Interruption of Service — Incident Analysis — Lien Protocol on Medium24 July 2026
Lien Finance's GeneralizedDotc OTC pools are exploited for 542,144.63 USDC. The attacker registers a malicious bond group using the protocol's permissionless bond registration, mints uncollateralized BondTokens by exploiting flawed validation in the exchangeEquivalentBonds function, then swaps fabricated bonds for real USDC via three pre-authorized OTC endpoints. The incident is first flagged by DefimonAlerts and amplified by exvulsec and SlowMist.
Lien Finance hit by $542K exploit tied to bond token logic bug — crypto.newsDecision Log
- slot 455369158 · hash AmtraCWxi3XtCHAC2CV5XetHGeUmceMYA1dCmiWy9stB
- slot 443501776 · hash AiG8ZrrzuTkvQbSMHPcDY4VCjrEJQRXi77Y1jivDjt8A
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (2 decisions). 8 of 10 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.
model: claude-sonnet-4-6
generated: 7/24/2026, 11:08:32 PM
last updated: 10/10/2026, 6:49:08 PM
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