DeFi protocols just lost $83 million to an attack financial regulators already warned about

According to CryptoSlate, decentralized finance lenders Tectonic and Moonwell suffered over $84 million in losses across four days from price-manipulation attacks using thin tokens. Security firm GoPlus estimated the Tectonic incident on the Cronos blockchain resulted in roughly $75 million affected, prompting Cronos to halt block production. The attacker looped collateral and borrowing positions in TONIC to inflate collateral value and withdraw liquid assets. Three days prior, Moonwell's MAMO market on Base faced a similar attack, leaving about $9.1 million in residual debt after an illiquid token price surged and enabled large borrows. Security firm SlowMist estimated Moonwell losses at roughly $8.7 million. These events echo the 2022 Mango Markets incident where Avraham Eisenberg manipulated MNGO token prices to withdraw over $110 million. Financial regulators previously warned about this manipulative scheme on decentralized platforms. The recurring vulnerability involves lending protocols permitting thinly traded assets to support borrowing limits exceeding the liquidity needed to shift prices. Cronos investigations continue with industry security teams while network operations remain paused.