{"id":75530,"date":"2026-07-17T06:34:37","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T06:34:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/how-malicious-liquidity-pools-are-trick-quoting-ethereum-and-polygon-users\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T06:34:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T06:34:37","slug":"how-malicious-liquidity-pools-are-trick-quoting-ethereum-and-polygon-users","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/how-malicious-liquidity-pools-are-trick-quoting-ethereum-and-polygon-users\/","title":{"rendered":"How Malicious Liquidity Pools Are Trick-Quoting Ethereum and Polygon Users"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>(Originally posted on : Bitcoin News )<\/b><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"@container mb-[25px] rounded-sm overflow-clip py-0.5 pr-0.5 pl-2.5 bg-success-100\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-col gap-m overflow-clip rounded-[6px] !bg-success-10 p-3 @[420px]:p-m\">\n<h2 class=\"m-0 flex items-center gap-s text-[19px] !text-[#1c1c1c] md:text-[20px]\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"16\" height=\"10\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 10\" fill=\"none\" class=\"shrink-0 text-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><path d=\"M1 1.5h14\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2.5\" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><path d=\"M1 8.5h10\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2.5\" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><\/svg><span>Key Takeaways<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul class=\"m-0 flex list-none flex-col gap-m pl-0\">\n<li class=\"m-0 flex items-start gap-s !text-[#434248]\"><span class=\"mt-2 size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><span class=\"text-body\">Enso\u2019s July 16 report exposed \u201ctoxic pools\u201d that fake quotes, causing tens of thousands of dollars in losses on a Curve pool.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"m-0 flex items-start gap-s !text-[#434248]\"><span class=\"mt-2 size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><span class=\"text-body\">The exploit threatens DeFi front-ends, with one malicious Uniswap v4 hook causing a 99.1% failure rate.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"m-0 flex items-start gap-s !text-[#434248]\"><span class=\"mt-2 size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><span class=\"text-body\">Enso updated its Enso Shield product to detect fake quotes across 2 different blockchain environments.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2>A \u2018Jekyll and Hyde\u2019 Tactic<\/h2>\n<p>A newly uncovered class of malicious <span>decentralized finance<\/span> ( <span>DeFi<\/span>) <span>liquidity pools<\/span> is targeting the core infrastructure that <span>cryptocurrency<\/span> traders rely on to find the best prices, according to new research published July 16 by <span>DeFi<\/span> infrastructure firm Enso.<\/p>\n<p>The company is calling the deceptive setups \u201ctoxic pools.\u201d Unlike typical <span>cryptocurrency<\/span> hacks that drain funds directly from <span>smart contracts<\/span>, these pools are engineered to systematically trick transaction simulations. They return attractive, highly competitive price quotes when a <span>crypto<\/span> wallet or <span>decentralized exchange<\/span> ( <span>DEX<\/span>) aggregator runs a simulation, but they alter their behavior the moment the transaction is actually executed on the <span>blockchain<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>The result is a subtle, systemic drain: traders receive significantly worse execution prices than they were quoted, or their transactions fail, burning network fees in the process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur investigation leads us to believe this is not simply another isolated <span>smart contract<\/span> exploit,\u201d said Milos Costantini, co-founder and chief product officer at Enso. \u201cThe industry has spent years optimizing price discovery. Our findings suggest the next challenge is verifying execution integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to Enso\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/enso-friends.notion.site\/Toxic-Pools-How-Manipulated-Quotes-Create-Execution-UX-and-Liability-Risk-in-DeFi-38b56de4702a80e88dfedf3af3ef4126\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">report<\/a>, toxic pools exploit the off-chain \u201cdry-run\u201d simulations that wallets use to preview trades. The malicious contracts detect when they are running in a read-only simulation environment and return an artificially optimized price. Once the transaction is actually broadcast on-chain, the pool alters its mathematical logic to execute the trade at a degraded rate.<\/p>\n<p>To remain hidden from security systems, these pools alternate between honest and malicious states, rendering static code scanners and historical reputation filters ineffective. This bait-and-switch design degrades the user experience and drains user funds through failed transactions. In one case study, a manipulated Curve pool triggered more than 37,000 reverted trades, forcing users to burn nearly $30,000 in <span>gas<\/span> fees.<\/p>\n<p>Attackers are also exploiting next-generation, modular exchange architectures. On Polygon, a malicious \u201chook\u201d \u2014 a <span>smart contract<\/span> plugin used in platforms like Uniswap v4 \u2014 lured routing systems with fake rates before triggering a 99.1% transaction failure rate.<\/p>\n<h2>Findings From On-Chain Forensic Analysis<\/h2>\n<p>The research, which spanned roughly two months of on-chain forensic analysis, combined historical archive- <span>node<\/span> data, transaction trace analysis and <span>smart contract<\/span> inspections. Enso engineers, with support from contacts at major <span>DeFi<\/span> protocols Curve Finance and Oku, identified active toxic pools operating across both the Ethereum and Polygon <span>blockchains<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>In one documented case study on Ethereum, a manipulated Curve pool processed more than 129,000 swaps. While the pool appeared to be the optimal route, it delivered worse execution than quoted, leading to approximately $225,000 in overstated quotes.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, Enso\u2019s team identified multiple <span>blockchain<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bitcoin.com\/get-started\/what-is-an-oracle\/\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">oracle<\/a> contracts deployed by the same operator to support additional pools, indicating the tactic is likely more widespread than the two documented cases and could represent an emerging template for on-chain extraction.<\/p>\n<p>The findings present a direct challenge to the user-facing layer of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bitcoin.com\/get-started\/what-is-defi-decentralized-finance\/\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DeFi<\/a> ecosystem. Popular wallets, consumer-facing interfaces and aggregators depend heavily on automated simulations to guarantee the \u201cbest path\u201d for a user\u2019s trade.<\/p>\n<p>Enso\u2019s report highlights that if routing infrastructure cannot distinguish between a legitimate quote and a manipulated one, front-ends will continue to steer users toward these traps. This creates potential legal and financial liability risks for wallet providers and interface operators who promise \u201cbest execution\u201d but routinely deliver toxic routes.<\/p>\n<p>In response to the threat, Enso announced it has updated its execution-protection product, Enso Shield, to include dedicated toxic-pool detection. The security tool is designed to bypass standard simulation methods by analyzing live on-chain context, monitoring quote history and using transaction traces to spot execution discrepancies.<\/p>\n<p>Rather than blaming individual <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bitcoin.com\/get-started\/what-is-a-dex\/\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">decentralized exchanges<\/a>, Enso has called on the wider <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bitcoin.com\/get-started\/a-quick-introduction-to-crypto\/\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">cryptocurrency<\/a> industry to conduct further research into the manipulation of transaction simulations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf transaction simulations can be manipulated while real execution tells a different story,\u201d Costantini said, \u201cwe need better ways to verify what users actually receive.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/defis-newest-threat-how-malicious-liquidity-pools-are-trick-quoting-ethereum-and-polygon-users\/\">Source link <\/a><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Originally posted on : Bitcoin News ) Key Takeaways Enso\u2019s July 16 report exposed \u201ctoxic pools\u201d that fake quotes, causing tens of thousands of dollars in losses on a Curve pool. The exploit threatens DeFi front-ends, with one malicious Uniswap v4 hook causing a 99.1% failure rate. Enso updated its Enso Shield product to detect [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":75531,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75530"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}