Makina Exploit Highlights Growing Concern Over DeFi Security in Early 2026

On January 20, 2026, the DeFi protocol Makina faced a serious exploit that resulted in the loss of over $4 million. This event adds to the increasing number of security incidents in the decentralized finance sector during the early weeks of 2026, raising alarms about the persistence of familiar attack vectors amid rising investments.

Key Takeaways

Makina's recent exploit on January 20 led to an estimated loss of approximately $4.2 million.
The exploit specifically targeted the DUSD/USDC Curve pool, but did not affect users with DUSD, Pendle, or Gearbox assets.
The security incident has prompted the activation of recovery measures and collaboration with external auditors for response.
January 2026 has already seen multiple DeFi exploits, primarily attributable to logic errors and configuration risks.
While several security events have been logged, the total losses are largely concentrated in a few significant incidents.

Makina exploit adds to growing list of DeFi attacks in early 2026

What Happened in the Makina Exploit

On January 20, Makina announced that an exploit had taken place, affecting liquidity providers in its DUSD/USDC Curve pool. The incident resulted in estimated losses of around $4.2 million, as detailed in various security reports. The team noted that the exploit was limited solely to the USDC aspect of the Curve pool, ensuring that users holding DUSD, Pendle, or Gearbox positions, as well as those with funds in Makina’s Machines, were unaffected.

Early alerts from Makina and Dialectic prompted the Security Council to engage recovery mode, which involved pausing all Machines while working in collaboration with SEAL911 and external auditors.

Makina exploit announcement

Source: X The Hypernative alerts caught unusual activity just before the exploit commenced, noting that a second address connected to an MEV bot was involved in the attack. Makina has identified the root cause of the exploit and is actively working to safeguard against future incidents. Recovery measures include attempts to engage with addresses associated with the exploit, and liquidity providers affected have been instructed to withdraw single-sided assets to DUSD while recovery efforts are underway. A detailed post-mortem is anticipated once the investigations are finalized.

January 2026: A Familiar Pattern of DeFi Exploits

The exploit experienced by Makina is just one of several significant protocol-level incidents reported at the beginning of this year. The various attack methods employed vary, but most losses appear to arise from logic errors, configuration risks, or assumptions about legacy contracts, rather than innovative exploit techniques.

Among the more significant incidents recorded in January are several others that resulted in substantial losses. Though smaller incidents have also been noted throughout the sector, many have been limited to minor losses or compromises on user-side wallets rather than affecting core protocols directly.

Concentrated Losses in Major Incidents

Although more than seven security events have been documented since the start of the year, most losses are heavily attributed to a select few exploits. For example, Truebit alone represents a considerable proportion of the reported losses, while Makina and YO Protocol account for the next tier of impact.

This concentration of incidents indicates that, while the frequency of attacks remains high, systemic risk within the sector is mainly influenced by a few high-impact failures rather than widespread vulnerabilities across various protocols.

Final Thoughts

As the DeFi landscape continues to develop, this incident underscores the urgent need for improved security measures. Stakeholders must remain vigilant about potential vulnerabilities to protect their investments in this evolving sector.