A major hack – PolyNetwork is a bridge protocol DeFi cross chain. This uses a series of smart contracts to enable the transfer of funds between blockchains. Unfortunately, this one has a once again been the target of a hack.
Hack PolyNetwork: cryptos created from scratch
On July 2, many companies specializing in blockchain analysis sounded the alarm. In fact, these have detected a hack on the PolyNetwork bridge protocol.
Once is not custom, the attacker has detected a flaw in one of the smart contracts of the protocol. In practice, this has been able to trick the operation of the bridge and massively issue tokens out of nowhere.
In total, the attacker issued 24 billion BUSD and BNB on the Metis blockchain, 999 billion SHIB tokens on the Heco blockchain as well as millions of other tokens on other blockchains such as Avalanche or Polygon.
After creating all of these tokens, the attacker’s wallet was counting $42 billion in various tokens.
Fortunately, the lack of liquidity on the various networks prevented the attacker from reselling all of his tokens.
For example, Metis teams announced that BNB and BUSD tokens do not have liquidity on the blockchain. In addition, illicitly issued METIS tokens were blocked by developers on the PolyNetwork bridge.
“We are aware of the Polybridge situation and are currently in contact with the PolyNetwork team to minimize the impact of the attack and assess the situation. Regarding the newly created BNB and BUSD on Metis, there is no liquidity available. All funds on Metis Andromeda are safe. »
>> You don’t trust the platforms to keep your cryptos? Ledger has the solution (commercial link) <<
An $800,000 Attack
Although a majority of the tokens issued by the hacker did not have liquidity, or were blocked, he still managed to convert some of his loot.
Thus, the attacker was able to exchange 94 billion SHIB tokens against 360 ether (ETH), 495 million COOK against 16 ether et 15 million RFuel for 27 ether, according to analytics firm Lookonchain. This brings the total to 403 ETHor nearly $800,000.
A carnage for PolyNetwork, which is not its first hack. Indeed, in August 2021, the protocol had suffered an attack following a private key leak.
In total, 600 million dollars had been stolen by the hacker. Such an amount, that it makes this hack the second biggest DeFi hack of all time.
In crypto, do not economize on caution! So, to keep your crypto assets safe, the best solution is still a personal hardware wallet. At Ledger, there is something for all profiles and all cryptos. Do not wait to put your capital in safety (commercial link)!
