Data compiled by Woofun AI shows that decentralized finance protocols experienced approximately $13 billion in net outflows during April, driven primarily by a series of significant security breaches. The total value locked across the sector retreated by 10.7% month-over-month to $82.7 billion, while exploit-related losses reached $635.24 million, marking the highest monthly figure since the Bybit incident in February 2025. This liquidity contraction was disproportionately severe compared to the decline in outstanding borrowing, causing the on-chain leverage ratio to climb to roughly 38%, a level not observed since 2021.

The majority of these losses stemmed from attacks on Drift Protocol and an unnamed counterpart, with damages estimated at $285 million and $292 million respectively; reports attribute these exploits to North Korea's Lazarus Group. As users rapidly withdrew capital from lending and yield-generating platforms, the stability of debt levels against shrinking collateral bases prevented meaningful deleveraging.

Concurrently, vault-style lending structures expanded their share of total borrowing to nearly 25%, up from negligible levels in 2024, underscoring the structural shifts within interconnected DeFi markets amid heightened security risks.