Radiant Capital Begins Orderly Wind-Down 18 Months After $50M Exploit

Radiant Capital [RDNT], a cross-chain lending protocol, has officially begun a phased and orderly wind-down of operations. The move comes 18 months into recovery efforts following its October 2024 exploit, which resulted in losses valued at $50 million. Earlier in 2024, the protocol's TVL had climbed above $350 million, and during that stretch, daily fees and revenue frequently exceeded $100,000. Momentum, however, weakened through mid-2024 as TVL slipped below $200 million, signaling sustained capital outflows. As liquidity declined, fee generation also contracted sharply, reflecting lower user participation and reduced borrowing demand. This stagnation pushed TVL toward near-zero levels within months.

Radiant Capital's wind-down increasingly resembles a managed transition rather than a disorderly collapse. As the protocol enters its final phase, it still holds $1.17 million in TVL across Arbitrum [ARB], Ethereum [ETH], Base, and BSC. Active loans hover around $866,000, indicating that users continue managing positions despite the shutdown. The team has reduced borrow caps to one and halted incentives to preserve remaining liquidity for withdrawals, repayments, and collateral management. Other operations have been paused, with the protocol noting in a statement, "With reduced operational support and no ongoing development, there is no assurance that all functionality will behave exactly as originally intended under all conditions. No further upgrades, patches, or interventions should be assumed. Users should act conservatively and prioritize capital withdrawal."

Compensation remains active through on-chain claim contracts, ensuring that recovery paths stay available even as Radiant gradually transitions into maintenance mode. It is, in effect, a protocol in slow exhale.

Radiant Capital's downfall highlights a recurring challenge across DeFi: while security flaws can often be patched within weeks, economic recovery typically unfolds far more slowly. Although the protocol addressed the October 2024 exploit, user confidence never fully recovered. TVL remained below $1.2 million in June 2026, a far cry from the $300–400 million levels seen before the incident. Similar patterns have emerged elsewhere. Uranium Finance never regained liquidity after losing $57 million in a 2021 flash loan attack, eventually fading into inactivity. Likewise, Step Finance shut down in 2026 after a $27–40 million treasury drain left rescue efforts unsuccessful. Together, these cases suggest that treasury strength, community retention, and liquidity recovery increasingly determine survival long after exploits are contained.