Wormhole Hacker Initially Eligible for $50K Airdrop; $225M Later Recovered from 2022 Exploit
Summary:
The hacker behind the infamous $320 million breach of the Wormhole bridge in 2022 was inadvertently set to receive a $50,000 airdrop of new Wormhole (W) tokens, due to the oversight of not excluding associated wallet addresses. This oversight was later corrected. Two firms, Jump Crypto and Oasis.app, launched a 'counter exploit' in February 2023, successfully recovering $225 million of the stolen digital assets from the hacker. Also, Wormhole recently announced plans to distribute over 675 million of its new Wormhole tokens to rightful recipients, valuing around $850 million.
Contrary to initial indications, the notorious hacker responsible for the infamous $320 million Wormhole bridge exploit in 2022 might have been in line to receive an airdrop worth $50,000 of the newly minted W tokens. According to a report by anonymous analyst Pland on April 4, the team behind Wormhole had inadvertently omitted a series of wallet addresses linked to the 2022 cyber theft, which saw $321 million in digital assets disappearing from the cross-chain bridge. Data shared by Solana-powered service Airdrop.link, and later reported on by Degen News on April 4, revealed that a total of four wallet addresses had been potentially poised to cash in on the Wormhole token giveaway. Source: Degen News
Had the cybercriminal taken advantage of this situation, they could have been the recipient of roughly 31,642 Wormhole (W) tokens, approximately valued at $50,000.
An independent review by Cointelegraph of these wallet addresses on Airdrop.link suggested that they were subsequently withdrawn from eligibility, indicating that the Wormhole team had promptly rectified the issue. At the time of press, Wormhole did not respond to Cointelegraph's inquiry. The Solana block explorer Solana.fm identified all four initially eligible wallet addresses as being associated with the 2022 Wormhole heist.
The Wormhole bridge fall prey to a devastating heist of a jaw-dropping $321 million in early 2022, ranking it among the most significant breaches the crypto space has witnessed to date. Fast forward to February 2023, Web3 technology provider Jump Crypto and decentralized finance platform Oasis.app, executed a 'counter exploit' against the Wormhole offender. They managed to recover $225 million in stolen digital assets that were subsequently transferred to secure wallets.
On April 3, Wormhole disclosed its plans to distribute over 675 million of its new Wormhole (W) tokens, with a current market valuation of approximately $850 million, to qualifying recipients.
Published At
4/4/2024 8:14:09 AM
Disclaimer: Algoine does not endorse any content or product on this page. Readers should conduct their own research before taking any actions related to the asset, company, or any information in this article and assume full responsibility for their decisions. This article should not be considered as investment advice. Our news is prepared with AI support.
Do you suspect this content may be misleading, incomplete, or inappropriate in any way, requiring modification or removal?
We appreciate your report.