Verify a decision

{"actor":"system:backfill","investigation_id":"3556e5db-ab25-4db2-aa06-c4d8dc39740f","kind":"publish","page_slug":"saddle-finance","published_at":"2026-05-20T18:59:03.151Z","sequence_num":1,"snapshot":{"content_type":"investigation","entity_name":"Saddle Finance","sections":[{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/business/2021/01/19/saddle-raises-43m-for-slippage-free-defi-trading"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/11/11/2332775/0/en/Saddle-Raises-7-5-Million-in-Funding-Round-From-Polychain-and-Electric-Capital-to-Expand-Automated-Market-Maker-Capabilities.html"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://blog.openzeppelin.com/saddle-contracts-audit/"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://docs.saddle.finance/smart-contract-audit"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://cryptobriefing.com/curve-accuses-saddle-finance-of-copying-its-code/"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://medium.com/saddle/introducing-saddle-a-specialized-amm-for-pegged-value-crypto-assets-e607d2747345"}]},{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://medium.com/immunefi/hack-analysis-saddle-finance-april-2022-f2bcb119f38"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://rekt.news/saddle-finance-rekt2"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://therecord.media/hackers-steal-90-million-from-defi-platforms-rari-capital-and-saddle-finance"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://www.theblock.co/linked/144491/stablecoin-dex-saddle-finance-hacked-for-10-million"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://www.web3isgoinggreat.com/single/saddle-finance-loses-more-than-11-million-to-hack"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://rekt.news/saddle-finance-rekt"}]},{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://blocksec.com/blog/blocked-saddle-finance-attack-industry-s-first-influential-blocking-to-rescue-3-800-000"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://medium.com/immunefi/hack-analysis-saddle-finance-april-2022-f2bcb119f38"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://rekt.news/saddle-finance-rekt2"}]},{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://blocksec.com/blog/blocked-saddle-finance-attack-industry-s-first-influential-blocking-to-rescue-3-800-000"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://finance.yahoo.com/news/venture-backed-saddle-finance-proposes-203900725.html"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://blofin.com/news/saddle-finance-plans-to-wind-down-airdrop-arb-to-sdl-and-vesdl-holders"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://bsc.news/post/saddle-finance-decides-to-wind-down-distributes-treasury-to-holders"}]},{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://medium.com/immunefi/hack-analysis-saddle-finance-april-2022-f2bcb119f38"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://rekt.news/saddle-finance-rekt2"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://rekt.news/saddle-finance-rekt"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://finance.yahoo.com/news/venture-backed-saddle-finance-proposes-203900725.html"},{"credibility":3,"name":"","type":"other","url":"https://beincrypto.com/defi-exploits-continue-to-plague-industry-as-saddle-finance-hack-sees-10m-stolen/"}]}],"sources_used":[],"summary":"Saddle Finance was an Ethereum-based automated market maker (AMM) optimized for pegged-value assets such as stablecoins and wrapped BTC, founded in 2020 and launched in January 2021. The protocol suffered a critical exploit on April 30, 2022, when an attacker leveraged an unpatched MetaSwapUtils library bug to drain approximately $11 million via flash-loan-assisted price manipulation, with $3.8 million subsequently rescued by security firm BlockSec. The protocol formally wound down in September 2023 following a DAO vote (SIP-54) triggered in part by the broader DeFi security climate after the Curve Finance hack.","timeline":[{"date":"2021-01-19","event":"Saddle Finance launches on Ethereum mainnet and simultaneously closes $4.3 million seed round from Coinbase Ventures, Electric Capital, Polychain Capital, Alameda Research, and others.","source":""},{"date":"2021-01-19","event":"Within six minutes of launch, three arbitrageurs extract approximately 7.9 BTC (~$275,000) from newly seeded pools by exploiting price imbalances; team response places responsibility on users.","source":""},{"date":"2021-01-20","event":"Curve Finance publicly accuses Saddle Finance of copying its StableSwap algorithm without attribution, citing a Quantstamp audit finding that Saddle's code was ported directly from Curve's contracts.","source":""},{"date":"2021-11-11","event":"Saddle raises $7.5 million Series A round led by Electric Capital, bringing total funding to approximately $11.8 million.","source":""},{"date":"2021-11-01","event":"Forks of Saddle's code (Nerve Finance, Synapse Protocol) are exploited using the MetaSwapUtils VirtualPrice pricing bug, alerting the Saddle team to the vulnerability class.","source":""},{"date":"2021-12-01","event":"Saddle deploys a patched MetaSwapUtils library addressing the VirtualPrice LP token calculation bug, but fails to migrate existing sUSD metapool to use the corrected code.","source":""},{"date":"2022-04-30","event":"Attacker (0x63341ba917de90498f3903b199df5699b4a55ac0, funded via Tornado Cash) drains approximately 3,932 ETH (~$11 million) from the sUSD-saddleUSD-V2 metapool across two successful flash-loan exploit transactions.","source":""},{"date":"2022-04-30","event":"BlockSec detects the exploit in real time and executes rescue transaction 0x9549c0cb... at block 14684434, recovering approximately 1,360 ETH ($3.8 million) from a blocked third attack attempt.","source":""},{"date":"2022-04-30","event":"Rari Capital and Fei Protocol suffer a separate $80 million reentrancy exploit on the same day, compounding DeFi sector stress.","source":""},{"date":"2023-08-08","event":"Founder Sunil Srivatsa submits SIP-54 to Saddle DAO proposing protocol wind-down by September 30, 2023, citing the Curve Finance hack as a renewed reminder of smart contract risk.","source":""},{"date":"2023-09-30","event":"Saddle Finance formally shuts down; all pools paused, community multisig dissolved, DAO treasury distributed to SDL and veSDL token holders as ARB airdrop.","source":""}]},"v":1}