Decentralized perpetual exchange GMX has recently suffered a huge exploit, resulting in a staggering $42 million loss. The blockchain platform immediately shared the news of the exploit on X after detecting malicious wallet activity.
The GLP pool of GMX V1 on Arbitrum has experienced an exploit. Approximately $40M in tokens has been transferred from the GLP pool to an unknown wallet.
Security has always been a core priority for GMX, with the GMX smart contracts undergoing numerous audits from top security…
— GMX 🫐 (@GMX_IO) July 9, 2025
GMX Loses $42 Million to Exploit
The GMX exploit resulted in losses, with $9.6M bridged to Ethereum, raising concerns over user fund security in the DeFi space. On-chain data reveals the exploiter’s significant theft, raising concerns within the community about the need for enhanced security measures.
GMX confirmed the exploit on Arbitrum’s GLP pool, prompting the team to disable V1 trading and GLP transactions on Arbitrum and Avalanche. The move aims to prevent further attacks and protect users while the team investigates the cause of the exploit and works on a resolution.
According to the GMX team, the exploit was limited to V1 and the GLP pool on Arbitrum, with no impact on the GMX token or GMX V2. The exploit did not affect its markets and liquidity pools.
Lookonchain’s on-chain analytics reveal that the attacker’s wallet, “0xdf3…a5221”, swiftly swapped the exploited funds for $ETH and $DAI. This was likely done to conceal the trail through stablecoin and liquidity swaps, making it harder to track the stolen assets and potentially launder the funds.
The hacker’s wallet currently holds over $32.5 million stolen funds in assets across 10 tokens on Arbitrum, with the majority being Frax ($10.54M), Wrapped Bitcoin ($9.63M), Wrapped Ethereum ($5.86M), and USD Coin ($4.28M), while holding a relatively small amount of ETH ($1,530).
A White Hat Bounty
PeckShieldAlert, a blockchain security and analytics firm, shared a potential developer message to the hacker. Therein, it offered a 10% white-hat bounty for returning funds after the GMX V1 exploit. GMX promises no further action if funds are returned within 48 hours.
This follows the likes of Cetus Protocol, a Sui blockchain DEX, which offered a $6 million bounty to the hacker who stole $223 million in a May 22 exploit, in an attempt to recover the stolen funds.
However, the GMX token price tanked below $11, its lowest since April, breaking below the 50-day Simple Moving Average. It has since slightly rebounded to $11.59, marking a 17.54% loss in the past 24 hours.
