Vampire Attack
Also known as: DeFi Liquidity Hijack, Protocol Forking Attack, Incentive Migration Strategy
A strategy where a new DeFi protocol incentivizes users to switch from an existing platform by offering rewards.
A vampire attack is a competitive tactic in decentralized finance (DeFi) where a new project aims to siphon liquidity and users from an established protocol by offering superior incentives—often in the form of governance tokens or yield rewards. This tactic gained notoriety when SushiSwap launched by targeting Uniswap liquidity providers. Vampire attacks highlight both the openness of DeFi and the ease with which protocols can be forked and liquidity redirected. While effective, they can be controversial and impact user trust in both the attacking and target platforms.