Bunni DEX Shuts Down After $8.4 Million Hack
Second major project closure this week highlights growing strain in DeFi sector
Decentralized exchange Bunni has officially announced it is shutting down operations following an $8.4 million exploit in September, marking the second major crypto project to close this week after Kadena’s founding team exited its blockchain venture.
In a post on X, Bunni’s team confirmed that the exploit brought its growth to a complete halt, making it impossible to relaunch without substantial capital. “To securely restart, we’d need to spend six to seven figures on audits and monitoring alone — funds we simply don’t have,” the team wrote.
Bunni, built on Uniswap v4, was designed to optimize liquidity provider returns using its unique Liquidity Distribution Function. Before the hack, the project’s total value locked (TVL) had surged from $2.23 million in June to nearly $80 million by mid-August, according to DeFiLlama. But the exploit on September 2 drained millions from both Ethereum and the Unichain network, forcing an immediate shutdown.
Despite the closure, Bunni has relicensed its v2 smart contracts under the open-source MIT license, allowing developers to freely use its technology, including liquidity distribution tools, surge fees, and automatic rebalancing systems. The move was praised by parts of the DeFi community for its transparency.
Users will still be able to withdraw their remaining assets via the platform, and the team plans to distribute treasury funds to BUNNI, LIT, and veBUNNI holders after legal clearance. Team members will not receive any funds.
The Bunni team added it will continue cooperating with law enforcement to recover the stolen $8.4 million. Meanwhile, Kadena’s founders also announced their exit earlier this week amid harsh market conditions, with KDA tokens plunging 70% to $0.06 following the news.
