Hack history / 2021 / Hack or exploit
Ref Finance
Hack or exploit on Aug 15, 2021 · Missing Input Validation
SOURCES AGREE ON DATE AND LOSS · 2 SOURCES
Lost
$3.2M
dollars at the time
Returned
none listed
as the sources state it
Rank
#573
among thefts by dollars lost
What happened
On August 14-15, 2021, Ref Finance was exploited when a faulty security hotfix failed to properly validate and debit users' LP token balances when removing liquidity from pools. This allowed attackers to withdraw more tokens than they should have, extracting approximately 507K NEAR and 1M REF tokens worth ~$3.2M.
Details
- Date
- Aug 15, 2021
- Kind
- Hack or exploit
- Method
- Missing Input Validation
- How in
- Smart contract bug
- Target
- DeFi protocol
- Chains
- NEAR
Reported by
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xWin Finance 2021 · Hack or exploit · $282K
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Cite this page
SwanBluechip, "Ref Finance hack, Aug 15, 2021: $3.2M lost", Crypto hack history, https://swan-hack-tracker.pages.dev/history/i/ht0e45e3ddfe/ (data as of 2026-10-31).