ALEX Lab
Summary
ALEX Lab is a Bitcoin DeFi protocol built on the Stacks blockchain, offering a decentralized exchange, yield farming, cross-chain bridging via XLink, and a token launchpad. The protocol suffered two significant security incidents: a May 2024 exploit of its XLink bridge via a compromised private key (alleged to be linked to North Korea's Lazarus Group) that drained approximately $4.3 million, and a second smart contract vault exploit in June 2025 that resulted in roughly $8.3 million in losses. Despite user reimbursement pledges and post-exploit security upgrades, the repeated nature of major incidents materially reduces trust.
Connected Entities
1 entities · 10 linked investigations- + 1 more
Connected Through
1 shared actor · 1 investigationDistinct actors this investigation shares with others — holders, traders, and named parties. Shared infrastructure (exchanges, pools) is excluded.
- □ALEX Laborganizationalso inALEX Lab·28
Timeline(11 events)
2022-01-17
ALEX Lab launches on mainnet on the Stacks blockchain.
AICoin — Decoding the Stacks ecosystem leader Alex Lab2024-03-01
ALEX Lab receives $10 million strategic funding round; TVL reported above $80 million.
Decoding the Stacks ecosystem leader Alex Lab — AICoin2024-05-14
XLink bridge exploited on BNB Smart Chain via compromised private key; approximately $4.3 million drained in STX, aBTC, sUSDT, and SKO tokens.
CoinDesk — Bitcoin DeFi Tool Alex Lab Loses $4.3M in Hack2024-05-15
ALEX Lab offers attacker a 10% bounty on stolen funds (approximately $430,000) in exchange for return of 90% of assets; deadline set for May 18.
CoinDesk — Bitcoin DeFi Tool Alex Lab Loses $4.3M in Hack2024-05-16
ALEX Lab reports freezing more than $3.9 million in stolen funds via cooperation with centralized exchanges; Singapore Police Force engaged.
Alex Labs freezes $3.9M of exploited funds sent to CEXs — CoinTelegraph2024-05-18
Bounty deadline passes without response from the attacker.
ALEX Lab Offers 10% Bounty — CoinEdition2024-06-20
ALEX Lab reveals attacker broadcast over 11,800 STX transactions to off-ramp stolen funds via Arkadiko, Bitflow, and Allbridge.
Alex Lab points to Lazarus Group — CoinTelegraph2024-06-25
ALEX Lab publicly attributes May 2024 exploit to Lazarus Group based on forensic analysis facilitated by ZachXBT, citing fund flows to a Tron address historically associated with the group.
Bitcoin DeFi app ALEX Lab links $4 million exploit to Lazarus Group — CryptoSlate2024-07-01
XLink announces security partnerships with Fireblocks and Ancilia implementing two-of-three MPC wallet custody and real-time threat monitoring.
XLink onboards Fireblocks, Ancilia — CoinTelegraph2025-06-06
ALEX Lab suffers second major exploit: smart contract vault access control vulnerability drained approximately $8.3 million (official figure) in STX, sBTC, USDT, USDC, and wBTC; community estimates place losses as high as $16.18 million.
Explained: The ALEX Protocol Hack (June 2025) — Halborn2025-06-10
ALEX Lab pledges full reimbursement of affected users from its treasury; reports emerge that customers of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPD Bank) were among those affected.
Alex Lab hack reportedly hits SPD Bank clients — crypto.newsDecision Log
- hash: Bv8jipZKqkXE4iTVGgZ5eKWzh3LUUc4BY6FMNpPTW48X
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain and source URLs are archived via the Internet Archive.
model: claude-sonnet-4-6
generated: 6/1/2026, 5:46:48 PM
last updated: 6/1/2026, 5:46:53 PM
avoid.net — verified advice for a post-truth world