Balancer issues a "final ultimatum" to hackers: 96 hours left to pay back the money; otherwise, all measures will be taken to find you.

Balancer suffers a theft of $128 million after a hack, issues a “final ultimatum” to the on-chain hacker. (Background: Balancer released an official report stating $125 million was lost due to a rounding function bug) (Additional context: Balancer: V2 pools were attacked resulting in a loss of $128 million, V3 unaffected; experts criticize: audits were useless despite multiple attempts) DeFi protocol Balancer announced in early November 2023 that it was attacked due to a function error, resulting in a loss of approximately $128 million in V2 liquidity pools. Today, Balancer posted a tweet and on-chain message calling out to the hacker, giving a 96-hour “final ultimatum” to return the assets and offering a 20% bounty. This countdown to negotiation keeps the community watching whether Balancer can recover from the incident. On Wednesday, we sent an on-chain message to all known addresses involved in Monday’s exploit, following best practices and offering a way for the hacker to contact us and return the funds. We understand that affected users are awaiting further updates. We will continue to… pic.twitter.com/alUh4n9C3V — Balancer (@Balancer) November 7, 2025 On-chain Final Ultimatum: Negotiation Priority, Bounty Approaching Balancer posted an announcement on-chain to the hacker’s address, proposing a “return 100%, claim the bounty” plan. The full message reads: Balancer hopes to resolve this incident without further escalation. If you are willing to cooperate, please reply and contact us proactively before 5:00 AM on November 9 (UTC+8). If no response is received by then, it will be considered unwilling to assist in compensating liquidity providers, and further escalation will be initiated. Balancer’s proposal is: return the funds to the DAO’s multi-signature address, and in exchange, Balancer will provide a bounty. Details will be negotiated privately. As long as the returned funds meet necessary standards, Balancer will not take legal action or conduct investigations. If you refuse this proposal or do not respond within the deadline, Balancer will use all technical, on-chain, and legal means to identify and pursue the attacker. At that point, the original bounty will be redirected to verified informants who assist in identifying and ultimately prosecuting the attacker. The official warning states that if no response is received before 5:00 AM Taiwan time on November 9, the same amount of bounty will be transferred to anyone providing clues that assist in tracking and prosecuting. Balancer straightforwardly states: “Return the funds, or we will initiate comprehensive legal and technical measures.” Negotiation and accountability are both on the table to shorten the recovery cycle and reduce user losses. However, the effectiveness remains uncertain. Related reports USDX stablecoin significantly depegged to $0.38! Whales attempted to buy the dip but couldn’t redeem, causing chain reactions in the DeFi market. Living with low risk: the arrival of low-risk DeFi, retail bear market survival strategies. <Balancer’s “final ultimatum” countdown of 96 hours to return money: otherwise, all measures will be used to find you> This article was first published on BlockTempo, a leading blockchain news media outlet.