Venus Protocol is a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform that uses community governance and a governance token (XVS). The protocol employed an Emergency Governance mechanism to respond to a phishing attack that initially drained $13.5 million from a user account. Security partners detected the malicious activity within minutes, the platform paused operations to prevent further transfers, and the community executed a governance vote to neutralize the attacker. Venus recovered $11.4 million within 12 hours, and XVS, which fell about 10% on the news, quickly rebounded. The incident underlined persistent user-side vulnerabilities and broader DeFi risks, including the growing role of phishing and cross-chain bridge concentration of value.

Total raised

$11M

Funding rounds

1

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Sep 2025