Garden Finance, a cross-chain yield platform, suffered a major cyberattack that resulted in a $5.5 million loss after hackers exploited weaknesses spanning several blockchain networks, as reported by blockchain analyst ZachXBT. The incident, which took place on October 30, 2025, is the latest in a string of significant DeFi breaches this year, highlighting ongoing security gaps in multi-chain protocols. The attackers quickly swapped the stolen funds for
Ethereum
(ETH), making recovery more challenging. In response, Garden Finance has proposed a 10% white-hat reward to the hacker in an attempt to recover the assets, but has yet to release an official statement.
This theft is part of a larger pattern of AI-powered attacks in 2025, with state-backed groups like North Korea’s Lazarus Group using artificial intelligence to automate and expand crypto-related crimes, according to a
Coinpedia report
. These AI-driven tools allow for rapid analysis of smart contracts, detection of vulnerable code, and execution of cross-chain thefts with high precision. The $1.5 billion Bybit breach in February 2025, attributed to Lazarus, illustrated how AI can speed up every phase of an attack—from initial breach to laundering—while avoiding standard security protocols, the Coinpedia article explained.
Security professionals caution that, although quantum computing is a future concern for blockchain safety, the immediate danger comes from advanced AI models outstripping traditional defenses. This sentiment is reflected in a
WhiteBIT report
which revealed that 40.8% of security breaches in 2025 were linked to social engineering schemes, including fraudulent investment pitches and impersonation. “Most threats exploit human error,” WhiteBIT’s compliance team stated, stressing the importance of preventative steps like two-factor authentication and careful link verification.
The rapid growth of DeFi has intensified these vulnerabilities. According to 1kx’s
H1 2025 report
, onchain fees are expected to reach $19.8 billion this year, with DeFi protocols responsible for 63% of that total. However, as transaction fees on blockchains have dropped thanks to scaling solutions, attackers are increasingly targeting application-level flaws—such as those seen in the Garden Finance breach—because they offer greater rewards, the 1kx report notes.
Both regulatory and technical countermeasures are ramping up. Wallarm’s
Q3 2025 report
points to a 270% increase in microservices composition (MCP) threats, as attackers move from exploiting code to targeting business logic. At the same time,
Standard Chartered forecasts
that tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) could reach $2 trillion by 2028, a sector that may draw more cyberattacks as DeFi continues to disrupt traditional finance. The bank cautions that regulatory ambiguity still hinders RWA adoption, though it sees stablecoin liquidity as a driver for DeFi’s expansion.
As cross-chain platforms grow in complexity, the demand for strong verification protocols becomes increasingly urgent. The Garden Finance breach, together with the $300 million Coinbase hack earlier this month, exposes deep-rooted flaws in decentralized systems. For now, the sector is prioritizing AI-based security solutions and user awareness to address the shifting threat landscape.
