Is Penpie Safe?

|Yield
C

Risk Grade: C (50/100)

Penpie is rated as elevated risk — multiple novel mechanisms and notable interaction risks.

High risk — proven security failures and total dependency on another protocol make this a fragile place to park funds

A yield booster that sits on top of Pendle, letting you earn higher returns by pooling voting power. It holds about $80M in deposits. Its D+ grade is driven by a $27M hack in September 2024 and the fact that your money is 100% dependent on Pendle staying safe -- if Pendle fails, Penpie fails with it.

TVL

$23M

Mechanisms

6

Interactions

5

Value Grade

C-

Key Risks for Penpie Users

1.

Already hacked for $27M in September 2024 -- attackers created a fake market and drained funds through a code vulnerability

2.

Every dollar in Penpie depends entirely on Pendle working correctly. If Pendle gets exploited, you lose everything here too

3.

After a hack, the protocol faces a lose-lose choice: print new tokens (destroying existing holders' value) or let victims absorb the loss

Top Risk Factors

  • Exploited for $27M in September 2024 via reentrancy vulnerability in reward distribution, demonstrating critical smart contract risk in yield aggregation layer
  • Tight coupling to Pendle protocol creates single point of failure: any Pendle exploit or PT/YT market failure cascades directly to Penpie users
  • veToken governance model (vlPNP) creates governance capture risk and post-exploit hyperinflation scenarios similar to Rari/Indexed Finance failures

Risk Score Breakdown

Penpie's highest risk area is Track Record (15/15). Here's how each dimension contributes to the overall 50/100 score:

Mechanism Novelty0/15
Interaction Severity14/20
Oracle Surface3/10
Documentation Gaps5/10
Track Record15/15
Scale Exposure3/10
Regulatory Risk3/10
Vitality Risk7/10

Read the Full Penpie Risk Report

This protocol has 2 collapse scenarios. 1 critical and 2 high-severity interaction risks identified. See the full mechanism classification, interaction matrix, and deep-dive recommendations.

View Full Report →

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Ratings use Hindenrank's eight-dimension risk rubric. Lower score = lower risk. Grades range from A (safest) to F (riskiest). This is not financial advice.