DoJ Indicts Brothers for $25M Crypto Theft, Sonne Finance Loses $20M to Hackers, 1M New Tokens Launched Since April
Summary:
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) unveils an indictment against two brothers, accused of stealing $25 million in crypto through an elaborate scheme exploiting Ethereum's protocols. Separately, a hack drains $20 million from lending protocol Sonne Finance. Meanwhile, the creation of new cryptocurrencies has surged, with over one million new tokens launched since April. The state of Wisconsin invests significantly in Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) recently unveiled a formal indictment stating two siblings were involved in a cryptocurrency theft valued at approximately $25 million, with the plot revolving around the exploitation of Ethereum network's protocols. In other news, cybercriminals managed to escape with over $20 million following an attack on lending protocol Sonne Finance. Moreover, the cryptocurrency sphere experienced the introduction of around one million fresh crypto tokens since the dawn of April. Additionally, Wisconsin authorities have reported significant investment in Bitcoin-focused exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Regarding the indictment by the DoJ, U.S. authorities accuse Anton Peraire-Bueno and James Pepaire-Bueno of stealing digital assets worth $25 million. The scheme involved Ethereum blockchain manipulations and took only roughly 12 seconds to execute. The charges brought against the brothers include wire fraud, conspiracy to carry out wire fraud and conspiracy to instigate money laundering.
Thomas Fattorusso, a special agent attached to the IRS criminal investigations department, stated that this unique instance of alleged fraud involved unauthorized access to pending transactions on the Ethereum blockchain, leading to the theft of $25 million cryptocurrency assets from multiple victims.
The scheme involved manipulation of Ethereum network's maximum extractable value (MEV) and the use of test transactions to trick the blockchain into prematurely releasing the full content of a proposal block before the assets were taken.
Regrettably, Sonne Finance had to halt its operations following the theft of cryptocurrencies amounting to $20 million. Cyvers, a Web3 security entity, detected an in-progress attack on the lending protocol platform's Wrapped Ether (WETH) and USD Coin (USDC) contracts at approximately 10:30 pm UTC on May 14. By the time Sonne Finance was conscious of the breach 25 minutes later, the cybercriminal had already made away with cryptocurrencies, including WETH, Velo (VELO), Wrapped USDC (USDC.e), and soVELO, valued at $20 million.
Despite attempts to negotiate a bug bounty with the hacker, whereby a percentage of the stolen funds are returned in exchange for identifying security inadequacies, the hacker has shifted a hefty portion ($7.8 million) to a new wallet address.
Turning to cryptocurrency developments, around one million new digital tokens have been presented to the market since the beginning of April. Ethereum has contributed over 370,000 tokens, while a majority of the 640,000 tokens issued by Solana have been meme coins. Ethereum network's second-layer Base has been a preference for meme coin creators owing to its low charges for launching new coins - 88% of Ethereum-issued tokens were through Base.
According to Conor Grogan, a Coinbase director, the number of Ethereum-launched tokens in recent times is double the total number of tokens generated on the blockchain between 2015 and 2023. Most of the tokens introduced on Solana were meme coins developed on the low-cost platform pump.fun. Reporting by Geraint Price, Sam Bourgi, and Felix Ng.
Published At
5/15/2024 11:38:56 PM
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