Balancer has given the operator of a wallet linked to its Aug. 31 exploit until Sept. 8 to return the stolen funds or face further action.
The warning, posted on-chain Sept. 3, offers a bounty for funds returned to the Balancer DAO multisig. The operator must respond through Blockscan by 21:00 UTC.
If the attacker does not cooperate, Balancer said it will escalate its response, potentially using technical, on-chain and legal measures.
“We understand this wallet is linked to the exploit of Balancer V1 on Aug. 31st, 2026,” the protocol said in the notice.
Balancer said it prefers to resolve the matter without escalation and would avoid legal action if the funds are returned. It also offered the bounty to anyone who provides information that helps recover the assets.
Security firm SlowMist estimated the loss at about $234,000, citing issues involving WBTC reserves and rounding calculations in Balancer V1.
The incident adds to Balancer’s security challenges. In November, the protocol reported an exploit that drained about $128.6 million from its vaults.
Balancer V3 now holds about $29.4 million in total value locked, down sharply from more than $400 million at its 2025 peak.
The protocol recorded $170.2 million in DEX volume over the past 30 days, generating $62,212 in fees and $9,801 in revenue.
