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Home News Solana’s Cypher Protocol Suffers $1M Hack, Halts Smart Contract

Solana’s Cypher Protocol Suffers $1M Hack, Halts Smart Contract

Daniela Kirova
Daniela Kirova
Daniela Kirova
Author:
Daniela Kirova
Writer
Daniela is a writer at Bankless Times, covering the latest news on the cryptocurrency market and blockchain industry. She has over 15 years of experience as a writer, having ghostwritten for several online publications in the financial sector.
August 8th, 2023
  • Hacker made away with 38,530 SOL and $123,184 USDC
  • He is using Binance and KuCoin to cash out

Cypher is a decentralized futures and derivatives exchange running on Solana. It suspended its smart contract on August 7 after an estimated $1 million exploit. Yesterday, Cypher tweeted to its thousands of followers on X, formerly Twitter, that it had suffered a security breach and frozen its smart contract, leading media reported.

Cypher added it was exploring the cause of the incident. The team is trying to convince the hacker to give the stolen funds back.

Attacker transferred USDC to Binance

According to data from Solscan, Solana’s blockchain explorer, the crypto wallet suspected to be linked to the incident stole around 38,530 SOL and $123,184 USD Coin, coming to a total of more than $1 million.

Shortly after the attack, the wallet transferred 30,000 USDC to kiing.sol, which is Solana’s USDC address on crypto exchange Binance. This is seen as an attempt to potentially cash out.

Stakeholders are sending NFTs to the wallet asking the perpetrator to return the funds. One sender pointed out that it wouldn’t be hard to find the hacker as he is using major CEXs like Binance and KuCoin to cash out, so the best he can do is give the funds back voluntarily.

No response

At the time of writing, the perpetrator hadn’t transferred any Solana-based funds to the Ethereum Mainnet.

The exploit took place during a “hacker house” event hosted by Cypher and Marginfi, another Solana-based protocol. Marginfi wrote on Telegram that it hasn’t been affected by the attack.

Cypher has an impressive fundraising history. The protocol has raised $2.1 million from Blockwall, Sino Global, and other big crypto VC firms. Its Total Value Locked (TVL) skyrocketed in July after measures to incentivize liquidity attracted a myriad of new users to the platform.

Contributors

Daniela Kirova
Writer
Daniela is a writer at Bankless Times, covering the latest news on the cryptocurrency market and blockchain industry. She has over 15 years of experience as a writer, having ghostwritten for several online publications in the financial sector.