DeFi Community On Alert Following Hypervault’s $3.6 Million Suspected Rug Pull

Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol HyperVault is suspected to have executed a “rug pull,” as on-chain analytics account PeckShield famous an irregular outflow of funds from the protocol, value near $3.6 million. 

DeFi Protocol HyperVault Pulls The Rug

According to an X post by on-chain analytics account PeckShield, Hyperliquid-based DeFi protocol HyperVault seems to have pulled a fast one on its customers, defrauding them of funds value nearly $3.6 million.

PeckShield famous that the stolen funds had been bridged from Hyperliquid to Ethereum, swapped into ETH, after which 752 ETH had been deposited into Tornado Cash. For the uninitiated, Tornado Cash is a well-liked crypto mixer that’s usually utilized by hackers to erase their on-chain path.

Notably, UPUMP tokens value $191,494, USDC value $107,358, WHYPE value $1.55 million, and several other different tokens had been stolen from HyperVault. PeckShield famous that HyperVault have additionally deactivated all their socials – together with the X deal with – nearly confirming the rug pull.

To clarify, a rug pull is a kind of crypto rip-off the place builders all of a sudden abandon a undertaking and drain its funds, leaving traders with nugatory tokens. It’s widespread in DeFi and NFT areas, the place anonymity and lack of regulation make fast exits simpler.

HyperVault provided “unmanaged” auto-compounding vaults, technique adapters, and keeper-bot harvests. These options helped customers route their digital belongings to lending, looping, and concentrated liquidity venues on HyperEVM.

Another X consumer HypingBull, commented, saying that that they had been warning about HyperVault since September 4. In an X submit, the consumer acknowledged that the protocol’s builders lied to them about audits, including:

I’ve simply reached Pashov (blockchain audit agency) on Telegram, asking if Hypervaut is doing an audit by way of them. The reply was: “First time I hear the undertaking with this title”. WTF? This is tremendous suspicious. I’m withdrawing all of the funds from the protocol till the staff clarifies what’s occurring.

Unfortunately, customers continued to deposit funds into the DeFi protocol, lured by the protocol’s promised 90% APR yields on HYPE tokens. However, the terribly high-yield guarantees on the time didn’t elevate the alarm amongst customers.

That mentioned, the HYPE token seems to be minimally impacted by this suspected rug pull, as it’s buying and selling at $42.89 on the time of writing, up 2.8% on the day. However, the token is down nearly 25% over the previous week.

Crypto Still The Wild West?

While the entire crypto market cap now hovers over $3.8 trillion, the protection of customers continues to be a significant factor hindering the trade from mainstream adoption. For instance, crypto phishing assaults recorded a major surge in August 2025, impacting as many as 15,230 victims, leading to a lack of $12 million in consumer funds.

Similarly, the THORChain Founder lost $1.35 million earlier this month after a deepfake Zoom and Telegram rip-off. At press time, Bitcoin (BTC) trades at $109,488, down 1.6% previously 24 hours.