Today in crypto: The Balancer community has proposed a plan to distribute funds recovered from the protocol’s recent hack. South Korea’s largest exchange, Upbit, halted deposits and withdrawals after detecting about $36 million in unauthorized transfers from a Solana hot wallet. Meanwhile, BitMine chair Tom Lee appears to have quietly stepped back from his $250,000 year-end Bitcoin prediction.
Balancer community proposes plan to distribute funds recovered from hack
Two members of the Balancer protocol community submitted a proposal on Thursday outlining a distribution plan for a portion of the funds recovered from the protocol’s $116 million November exploit.
About $28 million from the $116 million heist was recovered by white hat hackers, internal rescuers, and StakeWise — an Ether liquid staking platform.
However, the proposal covers only the $8 million recovered by white hat hackers and internal rescue teams, while the nearly $20 million retrieved by StakeWise will be distributed separately to its users.
The authors proposed that all reimbursements should be non-socialized, meaning that funds are distributed only to the specific liquidity pools that lost the funds and paid out on a pro-rata basis according to each holder’s share in the liquidity pool, represented by Balancer Pool Tokens (BPT).
Reimbursements should also be paid in-kind, with victims of the hack receiving payment denominated in the tokens they lost to avoid price mismatches between different digital assets, according to the authors.
The Balancer hack was one of the “most sophisticated” attacks in 2025, according to Deddy Lavid, the CEO of blockchain cybersecurity company Cyvers, highlighting the need for crypto user safety as security threats continue to evolve.
Upbit hit with $36 million Solana hot wallet breach day after $10 billion Naver deal
South Korea’s biggest crypto exchange, Upbit, temporarily froze deposits and withdrawals on Thursday after detecting about $36 million in unauthorized outflows from a Solana-network hot wallet.
In an announcement, the exchange said the suspicious transfers were flagged around 4:42 am local time (7:42 pm UTC), prompting a shutdown of transfer services and a full security review of its supported crypto assets.
Upbit confirmed that the compromise was isolated to its hot wallet, highlighting that cold-wallet reserves remained untouched. The exchange moved its remaining assets into cold storage and initiated onchain freezing attempts.
The incident put fresh scrutiny on Dunamu, which had just announced a $10 billion acquisition deal with fintech giant Naver. It also revived memories of Upbit’s 2019 security breach, when the exchange lost nearly $50 million in an attack orchestrated by the North Korean hacking group, Lazarus.
Upbit said it had suspended deposits and withdrawals across the platform as a precaution, a measure that will remain in place until it completes its security review. The freeze is not limited to Solana-based assets, as the company works to secure its systems and assess remaining risks.
Tom Lee cools on $250,000 Bitcoin call, year-end ATH now just a “maybe”
BitMine chair Tom Lee has seemingly eased off his widely promoted $250,000 year-end Bitcoin forecast, now only giving it a “maybe” that Bitcoin can reclaim its October all-time high of $125,100 before the end of the year.
“I think it’s still very likely that Bitcoin is going to be above $100,000 before year-end, and maybe even to a new high,” Lee said during an interview with CNBC on Wednesday.
This appears to be the first time Lee has publicly softened his $250,000 year-end Bitcoin (BTC) price target, which he initially floated earlier in 2024 and continued to reiterate through early October.
Lee’s prediction was one of the more bullish. Other crypto executives, including Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz, warned around October that “crazy stuff” would need to happen for Bitcoin to reach that level.
That being said, Lee said some of Bitcoin’s strongest days may still lie ahead before the end of 2025.
“I still think some of those best days are going to happen before year-end,” he said, with 35 days remaining until the end of 2025.
