Berachain has suspended its network to conduct an emergency hard fork and recover user funds following a major decentralized attack on Balancer’s V2 pools. Cross-chain losses are estimated at over $128 M. Analysts confirmed the severity of the breach, noting that the vulnerability allowed unauthorized fund withdrawals.
What Happened
According to researchers, the attacker exploited a flaw in the access control and callback functions of Balancer V2 smart contracts, enabling large-scale withdrawals from liquidity pools without proper authorization.
Berachain halted the network and initiated a hard fork after the USDe/HONEY liquidity pool on BEX was targeted. The team said in an official statement that because the exploit involved external assets, a standard block rollback was insufficient to address the issue.
Berachain co-founder Smokey the Bera said:
“The level of decentralization on Berachain is lower than on Ethereum, but in situations like this, it helps us act faster. The safety of our users and liquidity providers is our top priority – when around $12 M is at risk, we coordinate validator actions to protect them.”
Blockchain researcher ZachXBT noted that the decision to freeze the network demonstrates the project’s readiness to act decisively, even with a lower degree of decentralization than major chains. Replying to Smokey the Bera’s post, he wrote:
“I support this tough decision – great to see you putting users first.”
Key Recovery Measures
The Berachain team said immediate steps include disabling bridges, suspending HONEY pool operations, and contacting centralized exchanges to freeze the attacker’s wallet addresses.
Documentation states that the rollback will affect not only balance changes but also structural slots, since the exploit involved non-native assets.
How The Situation Is Developing
The incident has caused a decline in Balancer and BERA token prices, disruptions in liquidity pools, and renewed concerns about the security of protocol forks.
Berachain plans to fully restore network functionality once the affected assets are recovered and returned to users.
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