Berachain distributes hard fork binary to address Balancer V2 exploit

The Berachain Foundation announced the distribution of a hard fork binary to validators to address a vulnerability in its decentralized exchange, BEX, which stemmed from a wider Balancer V2 exploit across multiple chains. The upgrade prevents addresses from moving exploited tokens off-chain and stops further attacks. The network remains halted pending updates from core infrastructure partners on their RPCs. The initial halt occurred on November 3 after the Balancer V2 exploit drained about $128 million across various chains, with approximately $12 million lost specifically from BEX's "Ethena/Honey tripool" due to a faulty access-control mechanism. The foundation is communicating with the holder of the drained funds, identified as an MEV bot operator claiming to be a white-hat actor willing to return assets once the chain resumes. Industry figures, including Berachain co-founder Smokey The Bera and investigator ZachXBT, supported the network halt as a necessary measure to protect user deposits.

(Source：The Block)