Hacker drains $42 million from decentralized perpetual exchange GMX

The decentralized perpetuals exchange GMX suffered a $42 million exploit Wednesday morning.GMX confirmed GMX V1's GLP pool on Arbitrum experienced an exploit this morning. The team disabled GMX V1 trading, as well as minting and redeeming GLP, on both Arbitrum and Avalanche "to prevent any further attack vectors and protect users from additional negative impacts," and is investigating the cause of the attack.The exploit only affects GMX V1 and the GLP pool, the team adds. It did not extend to the platform's native token GMX nor to GMX V2, its markets, or its liquidity pools.While a post-mortem of the attack has yet to occur, the hacker appears to have drained GMX's GLP liquidity pool before transferring funds from USDC to ETH and then to the stablecoin DAI, while also stealing millions worth of FRAX, wrapped bitcoin, wrapped ETH, and other cryptocurrencies, onchain data shows.The blockchain security and analytics firm PeckShieldAlert shared on X what appears to be a developer message to the hacker, acknowledging the GMX V1 exploit and offering a 10% white-hat bounty for the return of funds. GMX also stated it will not pursue further legal action if the remaining funds are returned within 48 hours.A wallet linked to the hacker appears to hold nearly $44 million in assets, according to data from Arkham Intel.GMX allows users to trade bitcoin, ether, avalanche, and other cryptocurrencies with up to 100 times leverage. The platform initially launched on Arbitrum One in 2021 and has since amassed $305. 5 billion in total volume and over $229 million in open interest across 714,348 users, according to the platform's website.The GMX token price plummeted around 18% following the exploit, decreasing from around $14.42 to $11.78 in value, according to The Block's GMX Price Page.This story is developing.(Update: July 9, 15:12 UTC: Adds exploit confirmation from GMX team, affect on GMX token price.)Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.