Ooki Protocol
Last changed 2026-10-28 · Fact-check review — Fact-check review (verdict: approve): the reviewer checked the page's claims against its sources; the trust score did not change. Version history →
Why this score
| Every page starts at | 65 |
| Concerns that are not fraud | -16 |
| Incidents it suffered (e.g. hacks) | -9.6 |
| Problems around it, caused by others | -1.6 |
| Long-running | +10 |
| Sum | 48 |
Score: 48/100 (kept between 0 and 100)
How scoring works →Page reliability: Fact-checked 2026-10-28 · 8 of 8 claims confirmed
anchored·5CqW8b…HsVLSummary
Ooki Protocol (formerly bZx Protocol) was an Ethereum-based decentralized margin trading and lending protocol founded by Tom Bean and Kyle Kistner. It suffered four security incidents in 2020 and 2021 totaling more than $64 million in losses, including a roughly $55 million phishing-based private key compromise that Kaspersky attributed to the North Korean state-linked BlueNoroff group. After bZeroX, LLC settled CFTC charges and handed control to a DAO, the successor Ooki DAO became the first DAO charged by a U.S. federal regulator and received a June 2023 default judgment with a $643,542 penalty, trading bans and a court-ordered website shutdown; the protocol is now defunct.
Connected Entities
9 entities · 60 linked investigations- Ethereum→mentioned with→Bitcoin(60%)
- Ooki Protocol→mentioned with→Uniswap(60%)
- Ooki Protocol→mentioned with→Bitcoin(60%)
- Ooki Protocol→mentioned with→Polygon(70%)
- Ooki Protocol→mentioned with→Binance(65%)
- Ooki Protocol→mentioned with→Ethereum(65%)
- Binance→mentioned with→Ethereum(65%)
- Uniswap→mentioned with→Bitcoin(60%)
- Uniswap→mentioned with→Ethereum(80%)
- Cointelegraph→mentioned with→Ethereum(60%)
- + 8 more
Connected Through
6 shared actors · 590 investigationsDistinct actors this investigation shares with others — holders, traders, and named parties. Shared infrastructure (exchanges, pools) is excluded.
- □Ethereumorganization
- ♦Bitcointoken
- □Binanceorganization
- ⌂Uniswapprotocol
Timeline(20 events)
August 2017
Tom Bean and Kyle Kistner conceive bZx Protocol after reading the 0x, Kyber and Bancor whitepapers.
Decrypt / bZx team interviewsJune 2019
bZeroX, LLC begins operating the bZx Protocol (from June 1, 2019, per the CFTC), offering leveraged margin trading and lending without registration.
CFTC Press Release 8590-22June 2019
Fulcrum margin trading interface launches on Ethereum mainnet.
IQ.wiki / Ivan on Tech AcademyFebruary 2020
First flash loan attack on Fulcrum (February 15): attacker manipulates the WBTC price and exploits an undercollateralization bug; reported profit approximately 1,193 ETH (~$318,000) or approximately $350,000 in ETH.
CoinDeskFebruary 2020
Second flash loan attack within four days (February 18): attacker manipulates the sUSD price oracle on Kyber Network, netting approximately $633,000 in ETH.
CoinDeskSeptember 2020
Third exploit (September 14): iToken duplication bug lets an attacker mint about $8.1 million in LINK, ETH, USDT, USDC and DAI; the majority is later recovered.
Finance Magnates / bZx Incident ReportAugust 2021
bZeroX, LLC transfers protocol control to the bZx DAO (August 23, per the CFTC); the founders describe the move as making operations 'enforcement-proof'.
CFTC Press Release 8590-22November 2021
Fourth and largest breach (November 5): a phishing email compromises a developer's private keys; about $55 million is drained from the Polygon and BSC deployments and affected user wallets.
CoinDesk / The RecordNovember 2021
Kaspersky attributes the November 2021 hack (on November 12) to BlueNoroff, a subgroup of North Korea's state-sponsored Lazarus Group (APT38).
Halborn Security blogDecember 2021
bZx DAO rebrands as Ooki DAO; BZRX migrated to OOKI at a 1:10 ratio.
May 2022
Class action Sarcuni et al. v. bZx DAO et al. filed in the Southern District of California, alleging negligence and joint and several liability of BZRX token holders for the $55 million hack.
Skadden InsightsSeptember 2022
CFTC (September 22) settles charges against bZeroX LLC and founders Tom Bean and Kyle Kistner ($250,000 penalty) and files the first federal charges against a DAO, Ooki DAO, for CEA violations.
CFTC Press Release 8590-22March 2023
U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel denies a motion to dismiss in the Sarcuni class action (March 27), finding bZx/Ooki DAO plausibly a general partnership and token holders plausibly liable as partners.
The BlockJune 2023
Judge William H. Orrick grants the CFTC default judgment against Ooki DAO (dated June 8 or June 9, 2023, depending on the source): $643,542 penalty, permanent trading and registration bans, and an order to shut down the Ooki DAO website.
CFTC Press Release 8715-23June 2023
CFTC Enforcement Director Ian McGinley says the ruling shows 'DeFi is not a regulatory-free zone'; Ooki DAO announces it will shut down.
CoinTelegraphDecision Log
- slot 462280443 · hash 5AjuiqTzxDRGkbjkaUi2wJ2dJZwb64ygpunTuE5eUEeY
- slot 462280438 · hash 8jEvqi1d3vdbzdMQCJJ3P2v9SjnWnaq8EktxVzXZejqE
- slot 455363105 · hash GDYNvnVGXdeeXiEDdJJKuoYpE2cGcWjvWmF9VTMbFYfw
- slot 422312330 · hash 23oJZKzc3DcD4gE73T2M2Nd9wikDxkp1ZzxK5RrDiQyC
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (4 decisions). 37 of 43 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.
model: claude-code-merge-writer
generated: 5/4/2026, 2:55:01 AM
last updated: 10/28/2026, 12:52:39 AM
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