Key Takeaways:
- Looking back on the past year, Radiant Capital is winding down DAO operations following an inability to recover from exploitation in October 2024 that cost it $50 million.
- The protocol will continue to be in maintenance mode and will have the ability to let users up loans, modify positions, or withdraw assets.
- With active development and RDNT emissions complete, and protocol expansions noted, a phase of user support and recovery has started.
The end of this long period of planning has seen the launch of an orderly shutdown at Radiant Capital, which has been attempting to revive the DeFi lending platform after one of its most serious exploits.
Radiant stated that it has not recovered from the devastating adversarial hacking attack on its protocol that looted over $50 million in October 2024, making the decision almost 18 months later.
— Radiant Capital (@RDNTCapital) June 1, 2026
Recovery Efforts Failed to Restore the Protocol
The DAO said it had tried to raise stolen money back, gone to the outside for financing, and otherwise looked into recruiting new capital without success.
However, after two years of sifting through the assets, one that is significant to them has yet to be found, said Radiant. Meanwhile, the protocol was not able to get funding or strategic investment that would further extend its runway.
The incidents happened around the same time, earlier this year, a similar exploit took place where approximately 1,900 ETH were lost. This attack had to be covered by treasury reserves, thus having the opposite effect on the project’s financial standing.
The revenue started to shrink and with the decreasing use of the product, sustaining the full operation began to become challenging.
Read More: $3.2M Vanishes in 2 Hours as Safe Wallet Module Exploit Drains 86 Crypto Vaults
Platform Remains Online in Maintenance Mode
The front-end will continue to work and all smart contracts deployed will be operational on-chain. The users are still able to withdraw funds, repay loans, close positions and access the protocol features. It is however no longer under development and will be left at this stage.
Focus Shifts to Recovery and User Protection
As recovery moves forward, development of protocols is coming to a close. Radiant also said its remediation site will be available and that proceeds of recovered funds will be paid to impacted parties. The team will also keep monitoring the stolen assets and claim infrastructure monitoring, as appropriate.
The continuity of such huge exploits on DeFi projects is on display here. The rebuilding efforts and changes in governance proved unsuccessful, however, and eventually Radiant decided that it could not go on without recovered funds, fresh capital, and sustainable growth.
The protocol is still available, but in the future only reserved for maintenance, recovery and exit.
Read More: Verus Bridge Hack Drains $11.6M as Hacker Exploits Tiny $10 Cross-Chain Flaw
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