Rhea Finance
Last changed 2026-10-10 · Score recalculated — Rescored under Scoring v2, the published formula (avoid.net/scoring): 32 → 54. Problems weighed by who is responsible: incidents the subject suffered −20, problems around the subject, caused by others −1.8; legitimacy credit long-running +2; the penalty for incidents it suffered is capped at 20; a recent unresolved incident −0.8. Version history →
Why this score
| Every page starts at | 65 |
| Incidents it suffered (e.g. hacks) | -20 |
| Problems around it, caused by others | -1.8 |
| Long-running | +2 |
| Recent unresolved incident | -0.8 |
| Sum | 44 |
- The penalty for incidents it suffered is capped at 20 points.
Score: 54/100 (kept between 0 and 100)
How scoring works →Summary
Rhea Finance is a chain-abstracted DeFi liquidity hub on the NEAR Protocol, formed in early 2025 through the merger of Ref Finance and Burrow Finance. On April 16, 2026, the protocol suffered a major exploit in which an attacker bypassed slippage protection in its margin trading module using intermediate asset reuse across a chain swap path, ultimately draining an estimated $18.4 million from the reserve pool — more than double the initial $7.6 million estimate. Approximately $9.2 million was subsequently returned or frozen, with the remainder still outstanding as of mid-2026; a compensation framework was announced but had not been finalized at the time of publication.
Connected Entities
7 entities · 60 linked investigations- Ethereum→mentioned with→Bitcoin(60%)
- Tether→mentioned with→Bitcoin(60%)
- Bitget→mentioned with→Bitcoin(60%)
- Solana→mentioned with→Ethereum(60%)
- Rhea Finance→mentioned with→Ethereum(60%)
- Rhea Finance→mentioned with→Arbitrum(60%)
- Rhea Finance→mentioned with→Bitcoin(60%)
- Rhea Finance→mentioned with→Bitget(60%)
- Rhea Finance→mentioned with→Tether(65%)
- Rhea Finance→mentioned with→Solana(60%)
- + 2 more
Timeline(6 events)
March 2025
Ref Finance and Burrow Finance announce merger to form Rhea Finance, NEAR Protocol's unified DeFi liquidity hub.
Rhea Finance Medium / NEAR Protocol13 April 2026
Attacker begins exploit preparation: creates subject wallet, begins distributing funds across 423 intermediary wallets, deploys fake token contracts, and establishes eight fraudulent trading pools on Ref Finance.
Coin Edition / Post-Mortem16 April 2026
Exploit executed: attacker exploits slippage protection bypass in Rhea Finance's margin trading module, draining the reserve pool. CertiK reports initial loss of approximately $7.6 million. Rhea Finance pauses lending contracts.
Crypto Times / CertiK16 April 2026
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino announces approximately $3.29 million in USDT connected to the attacker has been frozen.
BeInCrypto17 April 2026
Rhea Finance releases post-mortem revising total losses upward to $18.4 million — more than double the initial estimate — and confirming the slippage protection flaw as root cause. Attacker returns approximately $3.359 million USDC and $1.564 million NEAR to lending contract.
The Block / AMBCrypto18 April 2026
Aurora Labs and Near Intents co-founder Alex Shevchenko sends on-chain message to attacker stating identification and associated accounts have been traced; formal traces opened with centralized exchanges. Crypto Times fact-check finds claims of full fund recovery unverified.
Crypto Times Fact Check / Coin EditionDecision Log
- slot 455365974 · hash R1Z7Yrq482prdW8iJH5G6XC7Yhd7PudjZNABeFa4y4N
- slot 427503459 · hash 87MbNFB1a9G8FYGFQVTTxoaaGcwb2PiRnqhri3vxR1e9
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (2 decisions). 12 of 14 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.
model: claude-sonnet-4-6
generated: 6/19/2026, 12:12:02 PM
last updated: 10/10/2026, 6:46:12 PM
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