Radiant Capital Ceases Operations: A Review of the 2024 Security Incident
The Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) of the decentralized lending protocol Radiant Capital announced in June 2026 that it would gradually cease its active operations, with the protocol entering a "maintenance state." This decision followed a major security breach in October 2024, which resulted in the theft of approximately $51 million in assets, and subsequent recovery efforts failed to retrieve the funds.
Radiant Capital launched its V2 version in March 2023, aiming to build the first omnichain money market to address fragmented liquidity in Web3. However, the 2024 security incident fundamentally altered its development trajectory.
Attack Details and Fund Flow
The attack was attributed to North Korea's Lazarus Group by cybersecurity firm Mandiant. The attackers successfully compromised the hardware wallets of at least three Radiant developers through sophisticated malware injection. They exploited a multi-signature (3-of-11) vulnerability in the Gnosis Safe wallet frontend, executing malicious transactions in the background while displaying legitimate transaction information in the user interface. This allowed them to gain control of the protocol's Pool Provider contract, upgrade it to a malicious version, and ultimately steal approximately $51 million in crypto assets.
As of June 2026, the stolen funds have not been effectively recovered. Radiant Capital is cooperating with U.S. law enforcement to attempt to freeze the relevant assets. According to statistics, the hackers converted the stolen funds into approximately 21,957 Ethereum (ETH). Due to the rise in Ethereum's price, the value of these stolen assets had doubled to approximately $102 million by August 2025, with some ETH sold at an average price of $4,562.
Decision to Cease Operations and RDNT Token Performance
After 18 months of recovery efforts, the Radiant Capital DAO ultimately decided to halt active development and expansion due to its inability to recover meaningful funds, attract new capital, and secure sufficient funds for responsible operations. The protocol is not completely shut down; users can still withdraw, repay loans, and manage existing positions, but all new development work will cease immediately. The protocol encourages users to actively manage risks and reduce exposure, and pledges that any future recovered funds will be returned to affected users.
Affected by the news of the shutdown, the price of Radiant's native token, RDNT, fell by 4.2%. The RDNT token reached an all-time high of $0.58 in September 2022, but its value significantly depreciated after the attack, falling to $0.022 by August 2025, and by June 2026, its price was well below one cent.
DeFi Security Warning
Radiant Capital's cessation of operations once again sounds an alarm for the DeFi industry. This incident highlights that even mature protocols can have vulnerabilities when faced with highly sophisticated attacks. Rebuilding user and investor confidence after an attack is exceptionally difficult, especially when funds cannot be recovered.
Industry experts generally agree that the Radiant incident emphasizes the importance of the following security measures: strengthening private key protection, optimizing multi-signature thresholds, using dedicated devices for critical operations, and continuously monitoring transaction failures and abnormal activities. DeFi protocols must constantly enhance their security defenses to counter increasingly complex cyber threats.
RDNT Token Trading Market Status
Currently, the trading market for this token is almost depleted, lacking effective transactions.
