PMX Hack

TOTAL LOST $230K
Low Other

Summarize with AI

ChatGPT Perplexity Claude Grok
Affected Chain 2026 Incident surface
Recovered - No recovery reported
All-Time Rank #1246 By amount stolen
Protocol Type Exploit/Other Target category

Incident Overview

Quick Summary

PMX's Polycule trading bot on Polygon was exploited due to a contract vulnerability, resulting in approximately $230,000 stolen from user funds. The vulnerability source has been identified with patches and audits scheduled for release by the weekend, and PMX committed to full compensation of affected users through its treasury.

Details of the Exploit

The attack targeted a vulnerability within PMX's Polycule trading bot smart contract on the Polygon network. The specific nature of the contract vulnerability has not been publicly disclosed, but the exploit allowed the attacker to drain approximately $230,000 in user funds from the bot's contract. PMX immediately took the bot offline to prevent further exploitation and initiated a comprehensive security review to identify the vulnerability's root cause.

The team confirmed the vulnerability source has been located and is developing patches with accompanying security audits scheduled for deployment by the weekend. Once the system is restored with proper security measures, affected users on Polygon will have their balances restored to pre-attack levels through PMX treasury funds.

Incident Report

Protocol / Project PMX
Date of Incident
Attack Technique Other
Classification Other
Primary Source View Post-Mortem #1 View Post-Mortem #2

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Exploit/Other
Official Website www.polycule.trade/
Protocol Twitter/X @pmx_trade
Team Anonymous
Source Code Unverified

Market Context at Time of Hack

Token Categories
Mineable
Protocol Links
GitHub

What the Attacker Needed to Succeed

Understanding the prerequisites for this type of attack helps auditors identify protocols that are most at risk and helps developers build better defenses.

Technical Knowledge Deep understanding of other and Solidity and EVM internals
Capital Required Seed capital to cover gas and initial position setup
On-Chain Access Ability to interact with smart contracts and deploy a custom exploit contract
Protocol Analysis Identification of the exploitable vulnerability in PMX's contract logic - root cause: other
Execution Speed Precise transaction ordering and timing to exploit the vulnerability within a single atomic block
Obfuscation Plan A strategy to launder and move stolen funds - typically through mixers, cross-chain bridges, or decentralized DEX swaps to resist tracing

What Auditors Should Check

Could this have been caught in audit? Likely — with a thorough Other audit checklist and test coverage

If you're auditing a protocol with similar architecture to PMX, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (January 2026).

  • Verify all logic paths related to Other are guarded by proper access controls and input validation
  • Review privileged functions (owner, admin, governance) for potential abuse vectors - centralization risks should be documented and bounded with timelocks or multi-sigs

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Sources & References

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