Hedera (HBAR) price forecast: Bonzo exploit, Lloyds adoption

Hedera price has been caught between two major developments that tell very different stories about the network.

On one hand, a $9 million exploit at Bonzo Lend raised fresh concerns about security within Hedera's decentralised finance ecosystem.

On the other hand, Lloyds Banking Group, Aberdeen Investments, and Archax completed a landmark tokenised collateral transaction on Hedera, highlighting growing institutional interest in the network.

These events have shaped recent sentiment around HBAR as traders weigh short-term risks against long-term adoption.

At the time of writing, HBAR was trading at $0.06717, up 1.4% over the past 24 hours.

Despite the daily gain, HBAR remains down 3.1% over the past seven days, 17.8% over the last month, and 71.3% over the past year.

The price also sits about 88.2% below its all-time high of $0.5692, recorded in September 2021.

Bonzo Lend exploit puts pressure on Hedera's DeFi ecosystem

One of the biggest developments affecting Hedera recently was the exploit of Bonzo Lend, the network's leading decentralised lending protocol.

The attack resulted in losses of approximately $9.05 million, making it one of the most significant incidents in Hedera's DeFi sector.

According to the preliminary investigation, the issue did not originate from Hedera's consensus mechanism or Bonzo Lend's lending contracts.

Instead, the exploit was linked to a flaw involving Supra's oracle verification process, which allowed manipulated price data to be accepted by the protocol.

The attacker reportedly inflated the price of the SAUCE token before using the artificially increased value as collateral.

Reports indicate that only 250 SAUCE tokens were deposited before the attacker borrowed millions of dollars worth of USDC and wrapped HBAR from the protocol.

Following the exploit, Bonzo Lend paused its lending platform and suspended withdrawals while the investigation and recovery process began.

The team stated that other services, including its staking products, vaults, and bridge, were not affected by the incident.

The exploit also had a broader impact on Hedera's decentralised finance ecosystem.

The decline in Bonzo Lend's locked assets contributed to a sharp reduction in the network's total value locked, adding further pressure to investor sentiment during a period when HBAR was already trading below recent highs.

Lloyds, Aberdeen and Archax showcase Hedera's enterprise use case

While the Bonzo exploit created short-term uncertainty, another development demonstrated Hedera's growing role in traditional finance.

Lloyds Banking Group, Aberdeen Investments, and digital asset platform Archax completed the United Kingdom's first foreign exchange transaction using tokenised real-world assets as collateral on the Hedera network.

The transaction involved tokenised units of Aberdeen Investments' money market fund alongside tokenised UK government bonds (gilts).

Archax, which is regulated by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), handled the issuance, custody, and transfer of the digital assets on Hedera.

The pilot demonstrated that tokenised financial assets can be used as collateral within an existing regulated financial framework.

The participating institutions highlighted several potential benefits, including faster collateral transfers, improved capital efficiency, reduced operational costs, and lower counterparty risk.

Hedera price outlook

Lately, the Hedera (HBAR) token has struggled to regain momentum.

After declining 17.8% over the past 30 days and 71.3% over the last year, HBAR continues to trade far below its 2021 peak.

Even with the recent 1.4% daily increase, the broader trend remains weak based on current price performance.

Notably, the token’s price remains below all major EMAs, signalling a general bearish trend.

However, the RSI reading is 37.86, and it appears to have bounced back up after nearing the overbought region, a sign that the market could rebound to ease the selling pressure.

In case of a price rebound, the first target lies at $0.07, while if the bearish trend resumes, the immediate support is at $0.066.