article Matcha Meta Hit via SwapNet: Router Exploit on Base Leads to Up to $16.8M Drained

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What happened?

On Sunday, Matcha Meta (a DEX aggregator) reported a security incident that didn’t originate from Matcha’s own core systems, but from one of its key liquidity routes: SwapNet. The issue was tied to a smart-contract vulnerability involving SwapNet’s router contract, which attackers allegedly used to siphon user funds.

Matcha Meta warned that anyone who had previously approved tokens for SwapNet’s router contract could still be exposed, and urged users to revoke those approvals immediately to limit further damage.

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Why token approvals matter here

In DeFi, token approvals (allowances) let a contract move your tokens without asking again each time. That’s convenient… until the contract (or a contract you approved) becomes vulnerable.

In this case, the alert focused on “one-time approvals” and older allowances that might still exist. If the router had permission to spend your tokens, an attacker could potentially exploit that approval pathway.

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How much was stolen? Estimates differ

Different security trackers reported different totals:

• CertiK estimated roughly $13.3M drained.

• PeckShield reported at least $16.8M stolen on Base.

PeckShield also described on-chain movements that included swapping stablecoins into ETH and then moving funds across networks:

CertiK’s analysis pointed to an exploit pattern that allowed malicious actions through the SwapNet contract:

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Was Matcha Meta itself hacked?

Matcha Meta stated that the risk exposure was connected to SwapNet, rather than a direct compromise of Matcha Meta’s own infrastructure.

At the time of publication, Matcha Meta had not publicly confirmed details such as:

• the precise root cause of the vulnerability,

• whether affected users would be compensated,

• what additional safeguards would be implemented going forward.

Here’s the original X post mentioned in the article (kept in the same spot as in the source):

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Not an isolated case: recent exploits add up

This incident landed shortly after another major smart-contract exploit. About two weeks earlier, an attack reportedly caused around $26M in losses for Truebit (an offline computation protocol), and the TRU token experienced a dramatic crash (around 99%), according to reporting dated Jan. 8.

Related reading (title only): Bitcoin investor loses retirement fund in AI-fueled romance scam

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Smart contracts remain the top target

Security reporting continues to highlight smart contracts as the biggest bullseye for attackers:

• Smart-contract weaknesses reportedly accounted for 30.5% of crypto exploit losses in 2025, across 56 incidents (per SlowMist’s year-end summary).

• Account takeovers and hijacked X accounts were next, at roughly 24%.

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AI is changing the exploit landscape

Researchers also point out that modern AI tooling is speeding up how vulnerabilities are discovered. The article notes that in December, commercial generative AI agents reportedly identified about $4.6M worth of exploitable smart-contract issues in existing protocols, using models such as:

• Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.5

• Claude Sonnet 4.5

• OpenAI’s GPT-5

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Quick protection checklist (extra tips)

If you use DeFi aggregators, routers, or DEX tools, this is the hygiene that saves wallets:

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  Audit your allowances regularly (especially for router/spender contracts).

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  Revoke approvals you don’t need (old approvals are silent risk).

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  Prefer limited approvals over “infinite” approvals when possible.

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  Keep a separate wallet for DeFi experimenting vs. long-term holdings.

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  Don’t sign transactions you don’t fully understand—especially “approval” and “permit” style signatures.

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  If a protocol posts a security alert, assume speed matters: revoke first, investigate after.