Flash Loan Attacks Drained $1.2B From DeFi Between 2020 and 2024: Study
Summary
A study published in the Journal of Financial Crime found that flash loan attacks caused $1.211 billion in losses across DeFi from February 2020 to July 2024. Researchers identified 72 such attacks among 254 successful DeFi attacks, which caused $6.568 billion in total losses. More than 80% of flash-loan losses occurred on Ethereum, and attacks ranged from $80,000 to $197 million. Price-oracle manipulation and protocol logic flaws were key methods; logic exploits grew to account for 55% of losses in the study’s later period. Researchers say attacks remain a serious but non-existential threat, despite improved platform security and attackers adapting to new vulnerabilities.
