Smart Contract Security: Lessons from DeFi's $15 Billion in Exploits
The promise of decentralized finance seemed revolutionary: financial services without intermediaries, powered by transparent smart contracts on blockchain networks. However, reality has proven more sobering. Since 2020, DeFi protocols have suffered over $15 billion in losses from smart contract exploits, representing one of the most expensive learning experiences in software security history. The Scale of Smart Contract Failures DeFi’s rapid growth coincided with equally dramatic security failures. Major exploits like the $600 million Poly Network hack, the $320 million Wormhole bridge attack, and the $625 million Ronin bridge exploit demonstrate that smart contract vulnerabilities can dwarf traditional cybersecurity incidents in financial impact. ...