Radiant Capital Abandons DeFi Lending Operations Amid Ongoing Recovery Efforts

Radiant Capital, a pioneering cross-chain lending platform in decentralized finance (DeFi), is set to wind down its operations after enduring significant financial setbacks following a major hack. The protocol's total value locked (TVL) reached approximately $386.8 million in December 2023, but plummeted after the security breach in October 2024.

Despite attempts to recover stolen assets and rebuild user confidence, Radiant was unable to regain its previous position in the market. The decision to wind down operations comes roughly 18 months after the attack that fundamentally altered the protocol's trajectory.

The North Korea-linked AppleJeus campaign is believed to have orchestrated the $50 million hack through a sophisticated social engineering tactic involving malware distributed via Telegram. The attackers compromised key systems involved in protocol governance and deployed a malicious contract upgrade, enabling them to steal approximately $53 million from Radiant's lending pools.