Key Highlights
- Hackers stole about $21 million in crypto belonging to a user of Hyperliquid following a compromise of a private key.
- The attack is barely a week after a $782,000 breach on Hyperdrive, a protocol that is based on the same network.
- According to news by North Korea-affiliated hackers, they have stolen more than $2 billion in crypto funds as of 2025.
Another significant security breach hit the Hyperliquid ecosystem recently when hackers allegedly stole approximately $21 million worth of digital assets from a wallet. According to blockchain monitoring firm PeckShieldAlert, the incident that happened on Friday, October 10, was linked to a private key compromise.
Hyperliquid Faces Second Attack, Victim Loses $21 Million
The on-chain information audited by the company revealed that the hacker emptied the compromised wallet and moved about 17.5 million DAI and 3.1 million SYRUPUSDP to the Ethereum network soon after the attack. The company affirmed that the money was transferred in various transactions within a short period of time, which indicated a highly coordinated activity.
The incident was characterized as a “major private key compromise” by PeckShieldAlert, which highlighted further anxieties about wallet-tier vulnerabilities in decentralized systems. The Hyperliquid team has not come up with an official statement concerning the incident yet.
#PeckShieldAlert A victim 0x0cdC…E955 lost ~$21M worth of cryptos on #Hyperliquid due to a private key leak.
The hacker has bridged the stolen funds to #Ethereum, including 17.75M $DAI & 3.11M $MSYRUPUSDP. pic.twitter.com/yZUMM6xL5f
— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) October 10, 2025
It is the second huge security breach that is related to the Hyperliquid network, in a relatively brief time frame. Another Hyperdrive attack bypassed Hyperliquid a week ago, causing a loss of about $782,000.
CertiK, a blockchain security firm, stated that the Hyperdrive exploit had an attacker calling a faulty function in the router contract of the protocol repeatedly, which enabled the attacker to drain two pools of liquidity. After the breach, the Hyperdrive team went dead to limit the damage and got down to work on user recovery.
In a community notice posted on X, the project wrote, “We have identified the root cause and corrected the issue.” They also stated that a compensation plan was being established on behalf of the affected users.
Both incidents have put the security issues of developing DeFi networks into focus, especially on newer Layer 1 architectures. Cybercriminals have viewed these ecosystems as easy targets because of the increasing complexity of smart contracts, as well as the user-controlled wallet systems.
Hyperliquid case is a part of a wider trend of crypto thefts that have been harmful in 2025, not only to major exchanges but to decentralized protocols, too. According to the latest news, it is reported that this year has already experienced losses of billions of dollars of digital assets to different exploits, phishing, and wallet breaches.
North Korea Hackers Steal Billions in Crypto
Earlier this week, the top blockchain analytics company of Elliptic, issued findings of over $2 billion worth of cryptocurrencies stolen by North Korea-related hacker groups during this year alone. “This brings the cumulative known value of crypto assets stolen by the regime to more than $6 billion.”
Elliptic reported that the sum of stolen money in 2025 has “almost tripled last year’s tally,” and this is indicative of how more advanced and extensive state-sponsored cyber theft is getting. The report also pointed out that although exchanges are still mostly the main targets, individual investors who are rich are currently being attacked directly.
“As crypto prices have risen, individuals have become increasingly attractive targets,” Elliptic observed. He added that many personal wallets do not have the level of protection that corporate custodians have. The company also added that other victims are targeted due to their affiliation with companies that operate large crypto holdings, which serve as a proxy access to more substantial holdings.
Two high-profile breaches in the same network in under a month have put the Hyperliquid ecosystem under an ever-growing amount of scrutiny by security researchers as well as users who are concerned about the safety of their assets.
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