Rhea Finance, a DeFi protocol on NEAR, is facing a major exploit. The attacker drained at least $7.6 million. Later, contracts paused, and recovery work began amid volatile market prices.
This crypto hack story broke through posts on X. The attacker created fake token contracts and added liquidity to a new pool. That may have misled Oracle feeds and basic validation checks.
In its latest Rhea Finance hack update, the team blamed a flaw in Margin Trading. It said the weakness enabled a coordinated pool manipulation attack. It Lend was affected. The DEX was not. rNEAR was not paused.
Source: Official Hack Update
How this Crypto Scam Happened? What are the Loopholes?
The searches quickly entered “Latest crypto scam news” searches online. Still, current disclosures describe an exploit, not a proven inside scam. The attacker appears to have moved pool prices to fool lending logic. That kind of move can distort collateral values in seconds.
The likely loopholes sit around Oracle integrity and pool validation. That means bad price data from a fresh pool may have been trusted. For lending markets, that can break risk checks very quickly.

Source: X
This hack also now involves CertiK, Tether, and law enforcement. CertiK flagged tracked addresses on Ethereum and NEAR. Paolo Ardoino later said Tether froze about $3.29 million USDT tied to the hacker.
The platform contacted the responsible party through an on-chain message. The team also hired a security firm for forensics and fund tracing. Readers following crypto news today will watch wallet moves closely.
The hack weakened trust in its roadmap and tokenomics, putting pressure on incentives, treasury planning, future launches, airdrop sentiment, and near-term token demand while recovery remains the top priority now.
The exploit hit during the post-merger push after Ref and Burrow joined in 2025. Rhea Finance tokenomics give 37% to REF and BRRR conversion. They assign 30.6% to the Rhea Finance airdrop and incentives. Team and advisors hold 11.8%. Liquidity gets 8.6%. Marketing and treasury each get 6%.

Source: Official Website
The Rhea Finance Roadmap for 2026 still includes a native Zcash Chrome wallet and a Meta DEX aggregator for cross-chain swaps, perpetuals access through Hyperliquid lending links with Aptos, Tron, Starknet, Polygon, and Plasma.
The token price remained weak after the exploit. The Rhea Finance price today is near $0.01019, down 7.98%, with a $2.03 million market cap and $723,190 volume.

Source: CoinMarketCap
It focused first on safeguarding users and coordinating recovery. Both contracts were paused to protect Lend, even though the DEX was not hit. The final reimbursement plan is not published yet. For now, it is chasing recovered assets, talking with the involved party, and working with authorities. Any remaining hole will depend on how much money returns.
This case shows how fast DeFi risk can spread when price checks fail. It also shows why stablecoin freezes, on-chain tracking, and quick disclosures matter. For NEAR users, the recovery effort may shape trust in local DeFi for months ahead.
Disclaimer: This article is for information only. It is not investment, legal, or security advice. Early exploit reports can change as new on-chain data appears. Readers should follow official updates and relevant authorities before making any decisions.
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Sakshi Jain is a crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in industry research, financial analysis, and content creation. She specializes in producing insightful blogs, in-depth news coverage, and SEO-optimized content. Passionate about bringing clarity and engagement to the fast-changing world of cryptocurrencies, Sakshi focuses on delivering accurate and timely insights. As a crypto journalist at Coin Gabbar, she researches and analyzes market trends, reports on the latest crypto developments and regulations, and crafts high-quality content on emerging blockchain technologies.