Research study analyzing flash loan attacks across DeFi finds $1.2B drained from 2020–2024, with increasingly sophisticated attack vectors.
Security & Exploits ·
A study published in the Journal of Financial Crime documented 72 flash loan attacks that resulted in $1.211 billion in losses across decentralized finance platforms from February 2020 through July 2024, representing 18.44% of the $6.568 billion total lost to all DeFi attacks in that period. Researchers examining more than 20 billion transactions found that attack methods evolved significantly, with exploits targeting protocol logic shifting from 28% of losses in early 2020–2022 to 55% in the latter half of the study period as platforms patched vulnerabilities. More than 80% of flash loan losses occurred on Ethereum, with individual incidents ranging from $80,000 to $197 million, and attacks exceeding $10 million accounting for over 88% of total losses across the two identified attack categories: price feed manipulation and logic flaws.