Base Bails on OP Stack as AI Hack Costs $1.78M

by

Lo and behold, the great Base hath cast off the yoke of the OP Stack, while the Moonwell, in its folly, lost a fortune to the whims of AI-generated code.

Base, that paragon of Layer 2 ambition, hath resolved to sever its ties with the OP Stack, yet cling to the apron strings of Optimism as a humble customer. A curious paradox, this, akin to a son abandoning his father’s house but still accepting his weekly allowance.

Meanwhile, the Moonwell, in a moment of hubris, entrusted its fate to the fickle fingers of AI, only to find itself robbed of $1.78 million by a pricing formula as flawed as a beggar’s coin purse.

These events, like thunder in a clear sky, have stirred the souls of DeFi’s sages, who now ponder the perils of governance and the dangers of letting machines write code with the care of a child scribbling on a wall.

Base’s Quest for Independence

According to Base’s engineers, who speak in riddles as thick as molasses, the network shall now forge its own path, integrating core components into a self-made codebase. Node operators, once loyal to Optimism’s decrees, shall now follow Base’s lead-a shift as dramatic as a serf becoming a lord.

Upgrades, once scarce as hen’s teeth, shall now come with the frequency of a drunkard’s belches. Future hard forks shall eschew Optimistic Proofs for the enigmatic TEE and ZK Proofs, leaving all but the most learned scratching their heads.

The network shall remain a Stage 1 Rollup, a title as modest as its ambitions. Yet, it plans to add independent signers to its Security Council, a move as wise as it is prudent-assuming, of course, they are not all AI-generated.

Though Base breaks free, it shall still bow to Optimism’s throne, a vassal in all but name. A curious dance, this, where independence is a mask, and loyalty a well-practiced act.

The Moonwell’s Misadventure

The audacious pashov, that vigilant guardian of code, revealed that Claude Opus 4.6, that paragon of AI, had penned a Solidity script so riddled with flaws, it might as well have been written in a child’s crayon. The result? A price feed formula so erroneous, it set cbETH’s value at a mere $1.12 instead of a mere $2,200-a discrepancy as glaring as a moon in a cloudless sky.

This error, a gift from the gods of negligence, allowed an enterprising thief to siphon $1.78 million from Moonwell’s coffers. The pull request, a testament to AI’s ingenuity, bore Claude’s name as a co-author-a title as dubious as a pirate’s map.

Moonwell, in a fit of desperation, proposed a recovery plan as flimsy as a moth’s wing. Partial repayment from the Apollo Treasury, ongoing payments from protocol revenue, and a 1:1.5 ratio for MFAM holders-such measures, though noble, are as effective as a sieve in a storm.

This debacle, a cautionary tale for all who dare to trust machines with their fortunes, coincides with Base’s rebellion, casting a shadow over the realm of DeFi and its reliance on code as fragile as a spider’s web.

Related Reading: OpenAI’s EVMbench Falls Like a Fallen Leaf After Claude’s Code Catastrophe

DeFi’s Shifting Tides

ether.fi, that stalwart of crypto innovation, hath migrated its Cash product to Optimism’s mainnet, a move as bold as a lion’s leap. Over 70,000 cards and 300,000 accounts now bask in the glow of Optimism’s embrace, though one wonders if their funds are truly safe-or merely less likely to be stolen.

Uniswap, ever the opportunist, proposes to expand protocol fees, a plan as ambitious as a man scaling a mountain. Meanwhile, ZeroLend and Polynomial, those once-bright stars, have faded into obscurity, their dreams extinguished like candles in a gale.

Yet, in this tumult, some shine. Hyperliquid, that paragon of profit, boasts $832.9 million in revenue, while xStocks, that upstart, sees trading volumes surpassing $25 billion. A tale of two worlds, where some rise, and others fall, all while the code continues to dance on the edge of chaos.

Thus, the saga of Base’s rebellion and Moonwell’s folly serves as a mirror to DeFi’s soul-a realm of boundless potential and perilous folly, where the line between genius and madness is as thin as a thread.

Read More

2026-02-24 00:52