GMX Halts Trading, Token Minting Following $40 Million Exploit

July 10, 2025 – Decentralized exchange GMX has temporarily halted trading on its GMX V1 platform after a critical exploit led to the theft of approximately $40 million in assets from its liquidity pool. The incident marks another major cybersecurity breach in what has been a record-breaking year for crypto-related hacks.

GMX V1 Exploit Disrupts Trading

The exploited pool, used for the minting and redemption of GLP tokens, held a basket of assets including Bitcoin, Ether, and stablecoins. Following the attack, GMX immediately paused all trading and GLP minting on both the Arbitrum and Avalanche networks as a precaution.

“The exploit does not affect GMX V2, its markets, or liquidity pools, nor the GMX token itself. Based on the available information, the vulnerability is limited to GMX V1 and its GLP pool,” the team clarified in an update.

Blockchain security firm SlowMist attributed the attack to a design flaw in the way the protocol calculated the total assets under management, allowing the attacker to manipulate the price of the GLP token.

Crypto Hacks Continue to Surge in 2025

The GMX breach adds to an already heavy toll from crypto exploits this year:

• February 2025: Bybit hack results in $1.4 billion in stolen funds.
• June 2025: Iranian exchange Nobitex loses $81 million in a politically motivated cyberattack.
• July 2025: The US Treasury sanctioned North Korean hacker Song Kum Hyok for targeting crypto firms.

In total, crypto hacks have caused over $2.5 billion in losses in the first half of 2025 alone, reflecting the persistent cybersecurity vulnerabilities across both centralized and decentralized platforms.

Extra Insight: The Rising Cost of DeFi Exploits

• Total Losses in DeFi: Since 2020, DeFi hacks have cost the crypto ecosystem over $6.8 billion in cumulative losses.
• Top Attack Vectors: Price manipulation, smart contract bugs, and oracle manipulation remain the most exploited vulnerabilities.
• Insurance Shortfall: Less than 5% of DeFi users have access to on-chain insurance, leaving most participants exposed to total loss in the event of an attack.

As the crypto industry continues to grow, security remains one of the greatest challenges to broader adoption. The GMX incident underscores the importance of rigorous auditing, real-time monitoring, and contingency planning for all DeFi projects.