- The first exploit was not malicious and sought to highlight a vulnerability in the code.
- A second exploit prevented the team from withdrawing funds from the smart contract.
- The Aku Dreams team has not given up on the project and seeks to continue building.
Aku Dreams, a popular non-fungible token (NFT) project featuring a young astronaut, has lost $34 million due to a flawed smart contract code.
The project unveiled this news through a tweetstorm on April 23, after the much-anticipated launch of the Akutars collection on April 22.
The launch was in the form of a Dutch auction, which opened at 3.5 Ether (ETH) per NFT. The project stipulated that the lowest bid would set the final price and that anyone that paid a higher amount would get a refund. Aku Dreams also promised Pass Holders a 0.5 ETH discount for every NFT they minted.
However, the launch became a nightmare for the development team after a bug in the code opened up the project to exploits. While attempting to highlight a vulnerability in the code, a user blocked refunds and withdrawals, demanding that Aku Dreams’ developers acknowledge the bug before they lift the block.
The team acknowledged the issue, saying,
The exploit in the contract was not done out of malice; the person intended to bring attention to best practices for highly visible projects & novel mechanics. They unblocked the exploit quickly after we dug in and took ownership.
Aku Dreams added that it would honor its promise to refund 0.5 ETH to Pass Holders today or tomorrow.
While the developers got on top of the refund issues swiftly, the project suffered another exploit that prevented the team from withdrawing their ETH from the smart contract. As a result, Aku Dreams lost $34 million worth of ETH, which is now locked in the smart contract forever.
Aku Dreams had the ability to stop the incident
It is worth noting that the Aku Dreams could have prevented the attack had it rapidly responded to a warning from security researcher @notchefbob. A developer going by @0xInuarashi pointed out that projects need to invest in audits and security, adding that good developers know their demand and worth.
Fortunately, the community behind Aku Dreams seems determined to see the project succeed and has devoted its support to the team during this tough time.
Micah Johnson, a former MLB player and the creator of Aku Dreams, apologized to the Aku Dreams community, saying,
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Im so sorry. Im so sorry to the Aku family. I care so deeply about the Aku family, I let you all down & I’m so sorry. I will continue to build brick by brick, continue to work tirelessly, because without the Aku community, Aku’s nothing We’ve come too far, I cannot stop now.
