MKR Coin News

MakerDAO’s Black Thursday: How One Bot Got $8.32M in ETH for Free

The 2020 MakerDAO 'Black Thursday' incident, where a bot exploited a 40-minute window to acquire $8.32M in ETH for free due to network congestion and failed auctions, highlights critical DeFi risk management failures. This historical event serves as a foundational case study for modern DeFi liquidation systems, emphasizing the importance of designing for extreme network conditions and continuous market participation. The incident resulted in a $4.5M bad debt for MakerDAO, forcing MKR holders to approve a token mint to cover the shortfall, demonstrating the direct financial impact on governance token holders during protocol failures. With current DeFi liquidations in focus, the lessons from this 40-minute exploit remain highly relevant for assessing the resilience of decentralized finance protocols under stress.