Crypto lending protocol Radiant Capital says it would begin closing down because it failed to determine a “viable path ahead” after North Korea exploited it for $50 million in October 2024.
Radiant’s decentralized autonomous group mentioned in a weblog put up on Monday that its incapacity to recuperate the stolen funds, safe new capital and preserve a runway to proceed working responsibly pressured it to wind down.
It added on X that contributors and neighborhood members had helped preserve the protocol below “more and more troublesome circumstances,” nevertheless it was not sufficient to maintain the protocol “with out restoration, capital, or progress.”
Supply: Radiant Capital
Radiant launched in 2022 and aimed to be a single platform to deliver liquidity to a number of blockchains. It quickly expanded in 2023, with its complete worth locked hovering to a excessive of $386.8 million in December 2023 whilst worth locked throughout the crypto market fell.
North Korea’s Lazarus Group exploited Radiant in October 2024, and its TVL fell to $75 million earlier than collapsing additional to $5 million inside the month after the hack, which it by no means recovered from.
Radiant not totally shutting down
Radiant mentioned that as an alternative of totally shutting down, it would transition right into a “upkeep state,” the place the protocol’s frontend will keep on-line, its sensible contracts will stay accessible and customers will be capable to withdraw, repay, and handle their positions.
Nonetheless, its decentralized autonomous group will now not contribute to improvement, upgrades or expansions.
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“Customers are inspired to actively handle threat and scale back publicity,” it mentioned.

Supply: Radiant Capital
Radiant mentioned it could proceed restoration efforts stemming from the hack by retaining its remediation portal open and returning any recovered funds to affected customers.
The Radiant Capital (RDNT) token fell 4.2% after sharing that it was winding down. The token hit an all-time excessive of 58 cents in September 2022, however is now buying and selling for a fraction of a cent.
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