The decentralized finance (DeFi) project HyperVault is facing rug pull accusations after $3.6 million worth of crypto disappeared from its platform.
HyperVault, built on Hyperliquid’s layer-1 blockchain, billed itself as a project that enabled users to deposit capital that was deployed across DeFi protocols to earn yield.
Early Friday morning, however, the blockchain security firm PeckShield detected an “abnormal” withdrawal of $3.6 million worth of crypto assets and stablecoins.
Peckshield notes the funds were then bridged from Hyperliquid to Ethereum (ETH), traded into ETH, and then funneled into the crypto mixer Tornado Cash, a controversial platform that helps users conceal their digital assets.
HyperVault’s X account was also deleted, and the project’s website was down on Friday.
Both PeckShield and the decentralized finance data aggregator DeFi Llama concluded that the project committed a rug pull.
Rug pulls are a deceptive scheme in the crypto space where insiders holding large amounts of tokens hype up a project to attract capital, only to suddenly sell all their holdings, essentially killing the token and rendering the project worthless.
In April, the market intelligence firm DappRadar noted that the web3 sector had already lost nearly $6 billion to rug pulls in 2025, a 6,499% increase from just $90 million during the same period in 2024.
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