XRP Prints 29,668,367% Liquidation Imbalance as Short Sellers Disappear

Decentralized finance protocol Yearn Finance has published a detailed post-mortem on last week’s yETH exploit, laying out how a numerical bug in its legacy stableswap pool allowed an attacker to mint a near-infinite amount of LP tokens and drain roughly $9 million in assets.

The yield farming platform also confirmed that it has recovered a portion of the stolen funds.

In the incident breakdown, Yearn said the yETH weighted stableswap pool on Ethereum was exploited at block 23,914,086 on Nov. 30, 2025, following “a complex sequence of operations” that first pushed the pool’s internal solver into a divergent state and eventually triggered an arithmetic underflow.

Yearn emphasized that its v2 and v3 vaults and other products “were not affected,” with the impact isolated to yETH and its direct integrations.

The exploit targeted a custom stableswap pool that aggregates multiple liquid staking tokens (LSTs) — including apxETH, sfrxETH, wstETH, cbETH, rETH, ETHx, mETH, and wOETH — plus a yETH/WETH Curve pool.

Pre-exploit, those pools held a combined basket of LSTs and 298.35 WETH, according to Yearn’s asset snapshot.

Three-phase exploit and 'infinite mint' path

Yearn’s post-mortem breaks the attack into three phases.

First, the attacker used extremely imbalanced “add_liquidity deposits” to force the pool’s fixed-point solver into a regime it “was not designed to handle.”

That caused an internal product term, denoted Π, to collapse to zero, breaking the weighted-stableswap invariant and allowing the protocol to significantly over-mint yETH LP tokens for the attacker relative to the value of their deposits.

With over-minted LP tokens in hand, the attacker then repeatedly called “remove_liquidity” and related functions, draining nearly all LST liquidity while offloading the cost of the over-mint onto protocol-owned liquidity (POL) held in the staking contract. Yearn said this process drove the pool’s internal supply to zero while ERC-20 balances still existed.

In the final phase, the attacker re-entered a “bootstrap” initialization path intended only for the pool’s first launch. By depositing a crafted “dust” configuration that violated a key domain condition, they triggered an “unsafe_sub operation” in the solver that underflowed, minting a gigantic amount of yETH LP tokens.

Yearn’s post-mortem described this as an “infinite-mint” scale, which was then used to drain the yETH/ETH Curve pool.

Recovery and governance stance

The disclosure confirms that 857.49 pxETH has been recovered so far, in coordination with the Plume and Dinero teams, and notes that a recovery transaction was executed on Dec. 1.

Those funds will be distributed pro rata to yETH depositors based on balances immediately before the exploit, with additional recoveries — whether from the attacker or further tracing — also earmarked for depositors.

Yearn’s timeline shows that a war room was convened about 20 minutes after the exploit, SEAL 911 was engaged shortly after, and 1,000 ETH of the stolen funds were sent to Tornado Cash the same evening, with the remainder of the attacker’s funds also routed through Tornado on Dec. 5.

Earlier reporting from The Block highlighted that roughly $3 million worth of ETH moved through the mixer in the immediate aftermath of the attack.

The post-mortem reiterates that yETH is self-governed by its depositors under YIP-72 and explicitly cites the product’s “Use at Own Risk” clause, stating that Yearn contributors and YFI governance are “not liable for reimbursement.” Any recovered assets, it says, will be redistributed to affected users.

On Dec. 1, The Block reported that Yearn had already recovered about $2.4 million in stolen assets tied to the bug, a figure corresponding to the recovered pxETH.

Remediation plan

To address the issues, Yearn detailed a remediation plan that includes enforcing explicit domain checks on the solver and treating Π = 0 as a fatal condition, replacing unsafe arithmetic with checked math in critical sections, and gating or disabling bootstrap logic once a pool is live.

The team also plans to introduce hard caps that tie LP issuance to the value of user deposits and expand its testing approach with more aggressive invariant-focused fuzzing, adversarial numerical test cases, and differential testing against offchain models.

Yearn credits ChainSecurity for supporting root-cause analysis and SEAL 911 for assisting with incident response and asset recovery, and says technical analysis, recovery efforts and monitoring of attacker-linked flows remain ongoing.

Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.

© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

XRP continues to draw attention this week as the broader crypto market posts steady gains. Many large-cap tokens recorded double-digit increases over the last seven days, even with Bitcoin dominance still holding high. XRP also moved higher, rising about 3% in the past few hours to trade near $2.10.

XRP ETF Inflows Continue to Outshine Rivals

New ETF data shows a clear split in market behavior. Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs recorded outflows last week, with BTC losing $87.7 million and ETH seeing $65.5 million exit. But XRP and Solana moved in the opposite direction.

Solana attracted $20.3 million in inflows, while XRP pulled in $230.7 million, more than ten times Solana’s figure. On a daily average, that works out to roughly $46 million going into XRP ETFs each day.

Even more important: XRP has not recorded a single day of ETF outflows since launch. Every session has shown net inflows, a trend which is seen as a sign of steady institutional interest.

Much of this activity does not show up in market prices. ETF providers buy XRP through OTC desks, not public exchanges. These transactions do not move the open market price, but they increase the chance of a future supply squeeze if OTC liquidity starts to thin.

Expert View: Traders Likely to Dominate Early ETF Demand

Avinash Shekhar, Co-Founder and CEO of Pi42, spoke to Coinpedia about what may drive XRP ETF demand. He said early flows will likely come from speculators and traders, not long-term institutions.

Newly launched ETFs usually attract short-term traders first because they are seeking quick liquidity and volatility. Over time, the profile shifts. Institutions look at deeper factors: payment rails, settlement speed, liquidity strength, and enterprise adoption.

Shekhar says that as XRP’s real-world usage grows, long-term institutional buyers may form a larger share of total ETF demand. That transition depends on growth in payment volume and broader corporate integrations.

“If those fundamentals scale, institutional demand for an XRP ETF could become a significant and stable component of overall flows,” he said.

What Comes Next for XRP?

XRP continues to lead ETF inflows by a wide margin. The lack of outflows since launch signals durable interest, even as price movement remains slow due to OTC purchasing. If OTC supply tightens, analysts say a supply shock could force price action to catch up.

According to CoinGlass data, Shiba Inu has surged 2,394.51% in spot volumes on major U.S. crypto exchange Kraken in the past week, revealing traders betting on the altcoin as the market awaits fresh catalysts.

The Federal Reserve policy decision is anticipated on Dec. 10. Markets are expecting that the Fed will cut its key interest rate at its final meeting of the year, with traders pricing in around an 87% chance of a 25-basis-point cut when the central bank concludes its two-day meeting, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

After a few days of consolidation between $0.0000081 and $0.0000086, Shiba Inu began a move early Monday as the broader market turned green.

According to Maartunn, an on-chain analyst at CryptoQuant, spot buyers are stepping aggressively into the market. The Bid/Ask Ratio (0–20% Spot) has flipped to +0.31, which marks the highest since April 2025. Maartunn noted that this level of bid-side imbalance often marks local bottoms or signals trend reversals.

Volumes indicator flashes bullish for altcoins

At press time, SHIB was up 2.23% in the last 24 hours and up 7% weekly to $0.000008513.

In a recent analysis on the altcoin market, which includes Shiba Inu, CryptoQuant noted this particular cycle has been tough for traders as many coins did not perform as expected.

CryptoQuant noted that the altcoin market has now entered an interesting period, taking a look at overall altcoin trading volumes. The aggregated 30-day altcoin trading volume for stablecoin quote pairs to its annual average reveals something noteworthy.

The 30-day volume fell below the yearly average, which might suggest a buying zone for altcoins. CryptoQuant added that this phase could last for weeks or even months, giving enough time to optimize a DCA strategy with well-targeted entry points.

However, caution is required given the current uncertainty on the market. Despite the recent rise in the market, sentiment remains cautious, with the potential for further declines without fresh catalysts and liquidity.

Circle and Bybit — operators of the world’s second-largest stablecoin and second-largest crypto exchange, respectively — are joining forces in a partnership that could have a significant impact on how digital assets move across the globe.

Under the partnership announced Monday, Bybit, the second-ranked exchange globally in terms of trading volume, will increase USDC’s presence across its ecosystem by boosting liquidity in spot and derivatives markets, expanding the stablecoin's use in savings, payments, and card rewards, and integrating Circle’s fiat on- and off-ramp infrastructure to make deposits and withdrawals faster and more transparent. Traditionally, like most exchanges, Bybit has primarily relied on Tether's USDT stablecoin.

From Circle's perspective, which has long been heavily dependent on top U.S.-based exchange Coinbase, the stablecoin issuer will have the opportunity to be utilized across an ecosystem with increased global reach. Some analysts have suggested Circle's stock could suffer if USDC's circulation and adoption growth stagnate.

Circle's drive to narrow the gap between it and Tether could come down to adding global partners able to expose more traders to USDC. Almost a year ago to the day, Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, also partnered with Circle to expand USDC's availability across its platform for trading, saving and payments.

USDC's circulation is currently about $78 billion while USDT sits at $186 billion, according to The Block Data Dashboard.

Bybit grows credibility

It appears Bybit is taking the stance that working with Circle will boost its credibility, with Monday's statement referencing USDC as "the world’s largest regulated stablecoin," a statement Tether might take issue with. 

"Bybit’s partnership with Circle represents a major milestone in our mission to offer a fully compliant, liquid, and user-friendly ecosystem," Bybit co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou said.

The exchange also pointed out it recently secured a Virtual Asset Platform Operator License from the UAE’s Securities and Commodities Authority in addition to expanding "its regulatory oversight across the European Economic Area (EEA), Turkey, and other jurisdictions around the world."

Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.

© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

After multiple days of showing heightening sell pressure, Shiba Inu is moving back to the bullish side of the market, although it is still struggling to retain crucial support.

As interest begins to return to the SHIB ecosystem, new on-chain data shows a massive change in its market dynamics as holders are increasingly moving tokens out of exchanges rather than returning them.

Shiba Inu sellers slow down

Data from crypto analytics platform Cryptoquant shows that the leading meme token has witnessed a decent decrease of about 2% in the SHIB exchange netflow over the last 24 hours.

As such, the difference between SHIB inflows across all supported exchanges and its outflows, which sum up to be its overall exchange netflow over the past day, is sitting at a massive -45,201,400,000 SHIB.

The metric, which shows that more tokens are being moved out of exchanges rather than being deposited for sale, is a key indication of heightening demand.

With over 45 billion tokens being wiped off centralized exchanges in just one day, it appears that both retail and whale holders are moving their tokens into self-custody amid surging buy activities, while also lowering the immediate risk of significant liquidations.

SHIB exchange reserve plummets

With this negative netflow, the Shiba Inu exchange reserve has returned to the red zone, showing an acceptable decrease of about 0.87% over the last 24 hours, signaling growing conviction among holders.

As the SHIB exchange flow goes extremely negative, the data further shows that the total SHIB currently held on leading cryptocurrency exchanges like Binance and Coinbase has also decreased over the last 24 hours, currently sitting at over 60 trillion and 374 billion, respectively.

Following this bullish on-chain movement, data from CoinMarketCap shows that SHIB has surged rapidly by 3.7% over the last day, trading at $0.000008550 as of press time.

While this has restored the market's confidence, analysts suggest that SHIB might be removing a zero soon if it is able to hold momentum and succeed at its potential rebound.

BlackRock has officially filed for a staked Ethereum exchange traded fund. The proposed product, named the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF, would hold Ethereum and earn staking rewards through approved validators.

ETF Will Hold ETH and Capture Staking Rewards

According to the filing, the fund is designed to track the price of Ethereum while also collecting staking yields. The structure excludes leverage, derivatives, and lending. It will operate as a simple, passive investment vehicle. Coinbase Custody will serve as the primary custodian, while Anchorage Digital is listed as an alternative to diversify risk and improve operational security.

The ETF’s shares will trade on Nasdaq under the ticker ETHB once approved. Only authorized participants will be allowed to create or redeem shares in large blocks. The filing also outlines details on custody, staking arrangements, issuance, redemption, and administrative roles.

SEC Review Will Decide Launch Timeline

The ETF will go live only after the United States Securities and Exchange Commission completes its review and declares the registration effective. This filing shows growing institutional demand for Ethereum products, especially those that combine price exposure with staking rewards.

Ethereum Price Rallies

Ethereum has gained more than 7% in the past 24 hours and is now trading near $3,122. Despite the jump, the price is still stuck in a choppy sideways range with no clear breakout. ETH recently hit resistance around $3,165–$3,550 and pulled back, but support between $2,745–$2,917 is still holding. 

For now, Ethereum remains trapped between these levels, and experts are watching $3,169 as the point that must break for a stronger upside move. Until then, the market is likely to stay quiet and unclear, with no strong trend in either direction.