Why Balancer Lost $120M While Better Incentive Design Could Have Changed Everything

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/why-balancer-lost-$120m-while-better-incentive-design-could-have-changed-everything . Balancer lost $120M while protocols with better incentive design could prevent such failures through game theory and dynamic rewards Check more stories related to web3 at: https://hackernoon.com/c/web3 . You can also check exclusive content about #balancer , #smardex , #defi , #web3 , #good-company , #hack , #cybersecurity , #cryptocurrency , and more. This story was written by: @ishanpandey . Learn more about this writer by checking @ishanpandey's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com . On November 3, 2025, Balancer lost over $120 million in one of the largest DeFi breaches of the year. Attackers exploited a rounding direction error that had existed in the code for years. Users could only watch as their funds drained or race each other to the exit.