Merlin Labs Repeated Strategy Exploits

In 2021, the BNB Chain yield optimizer Merlin Labs suffered multiple exploits (an initial ~$680K, with further losses across additional incidents). Each involved flash-loan manipulation of the strategy/reward pricing Merlin used.

What happened

Merlin's strategies priced from manipulable pools; repeated flash-loan manipulations across several 2021 incidents drained reserves each time.

Why it matters

Merlin Labs is both a BSC-2021 flash-loan pricing entry and a multi-incident entry — exploited, "fixed," exploited again, multiple times in one year. It compresses two of the catalogue's central findings into one small protocol: the BSC-2021 cluster's relentless repetition of one avoidable bug class, and the repeat-incident verdict that inadequate systemic remediation guarantees recurrence. Merlin learned neither lesson in real time; the catalogue records it so the pattern is unmistakable in aggregate.