Hackers Steal $20 Million in Crypto from Sonne Finance, BlockTower Capital's Main Hedge Fund Partially Drained
Summary:
Crypto lending protocol Sonne Finance suspended operations following a hack that stole $20 million worth of cryptocurrencies. The attack was discovered 25 minutes too late by security firm Cyvers. Notably, blockchain investigator PeckShield revealed that the hacker has already transferred a large part ($7.8 million) of the stolen funds to a new wallet. Meanwhile, BlockTower Capital, a crypto institutional investment company, reportedly suffered an exploit that partially drained its main hedge fund. Both firms are currently undertaking efforts to trace and retrieve the stolen funds.
Crypto lending platform, Sonne Finance, had to temporarily cease operations due to a substantial hack that siphoned off $20 million worth of digital currencies. The hack, detected by Web3 security firm Cyvers, began on May 14 around 10:30 pm UTC, targeting Sonne Finance's USD Coin and Wrapped Ether contracts. By the time Sonne was alerted 25 minutes later, the hacker had already made away with a whopping $20 million in various cryptocurrencies, including VELO and Wrapped USDC.
Sonne Finance confirmed the incident on May 15, announcing its decision to temporarily halt all markets on Optimism. The firm also collaborated with Cyvers to further analyze the breach. Currently, Sonne Finance is contemplating several strategies to recover the stolen funds, which might include offering a 'bug bounty' to the cybercriminal - a tactic that typically entails the hacker returning the bulk of the stolen funds and retaining a small portion as a bounty.
However, the cyber thief appears incompatible with negotiation, already reallocating a significant portion of the stolen funds ($7.8 million) to another digital wallet, as per blockchain investigation firm PeckShield. The miscreant then exchanged approximately 59 WBTC (Wrapped Bitcoin) for nearly 1,185 ETH (Ethereum) and 183,000 Dai (another stablecoin), which seems to signal an attempt to funnel the ill-gotten gains through a privacy-centric protocol, such as Tornado Cash, to avoid being tracked.
The forensic analysis by Sonne Finance showed that the hacker launched a 'donation attack' on Sonne's Compound v2 forks, known to have cybersecurity vulnerabilities, says community member PoorBabyCorn, who criticized Sonne Finance for using the bug-prone version despite its known liabilities.
Meanwhile, another report suggests that the primary hedge fund of crypto institutional investment company, BlockTower Capital, was exploited and partially emptied. Efforts are underway to discern the manner of the breach and to trace the stolen funds. As of May 15, no culprit has been apprehended, according to Bloomberg. With approximately $1.7 billion in assets managed, BlockTower's partners have been apprised of the situation.
Last February, BlockTower reportedly lost close to $1.5 million in a $2 million hack of a multichain exchange aggregator known as Dexible. About 85% of the stolen funds at that time were under the control of a few significant traders, with Arkham Intelligence tagging a wallet drained of $1.5 million as likely belonging to BlockTower.
Published At
5/15/2024 10:36:18 AM
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