The UK-based cryptocurrency market maker Wintermute was the latest victim of DeFi hacks, losing approximately $160 million, according to Evgeny Gaevoy, the company’s founder and CEO. This is a huge loss for the company, and it’s yet another reminder of the risks associated with DeFi.
Wintermute is just the latest in a long line of DeFi hacks. In the past few months, we’ve seen hacks on popular protocols . In each case, the hackers have made off with millions of dollars worth of crypto.
According to Etherscan, over 70 different tokens have been transferred to “Wintermute exploiter,” including $61,350,986 in USD Coin (USDC), 671 Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC), which is roughly $13,030,061, and $29,461,533 Tether (USDT). The largest token sum appears to be USDC.
According to Ajay Dhingra, head of research and analytics at smart exchange Unizen, "The nature of the exploit suggests that Wintermute's hot wallet was compromised." Dhingra told Cointelegraph that "The attacker cleverly manipulated the bug in the smart contract."
Dhingra's analysis of the attack reveals that the hacker was able to gain control of the Wintermute smart contract by first creating a malicious contract, which they then used to trigger a sequence of events that resulted in the transfer of ownership of the Wintermute contract to the hacker.
So far, the DeFi space has been largely unregulated. This Wild West environment has attracted a lot of users, but it’s also attracted a lot of criminals. As the DeFi space continues to grow, we can expect to see more hacks.
That’s why it’s important to be careful when participating in DeFi protocols. Don’t put more money into DeFi than you can afford to lose. And make sure you do your own research before investing.
In the short tweet thread, Gaevoy, a Dutch national suggested that the hack could be treated as a white-hat hack. While this may be a reasonable suggestion, it's also important to remember that not all hackers are interested in helping companies improve their security. In fact, many hackers are simply interested in causing chaos and wreaking havoc.