Hackers steal $80 million worth of crypto from DeFi platform Qubit Finance
In what’s being called as the biggest cryptocurrency heist of 2022, cyber criminals have stolen crypto assets worth $80 million (Rs 600 crores approx.) from decentralised finance (DeFi) platform Qubit Finance. According to ZDNet, the company contacted the hacker and offered them the maximum bug bounty in exchange for a return of the funds.
In a tweet, Qubit Finance acknowledged the hack, and said that the hackers stole 206,809 binance coins from Qubit’s QBridge protocol. “The team is currently working with security and network partners on next steps,” it posted.
The company directly appealed to the hacker, asking them to negotiate with the team in order to minimise losses for the Qubit community. “We propose you negotiate directly with us before taking any further action. The exploit and loss of funds have a profound effect on thousands of real people. If the maximum bounty offer is not what you are looking for, we are open to have a conversation. Let’s figure out a situation,” the Qubit Finance Team wrote.
Blockchain security company CertiK explained how the hackers stole funds and moved them to different accounts. “For the non-technical readers, essentially what the attacker did is take advantage of a logical error in Qubit Finance’s code that allowed them to input malicious data and withdraw tokens on Binance Smart Chain when none were deposited on Ethereum,” CertiK explained.
Qubit is a DeFi platform that deals in different blockchains, meaning that deposits made in one cryptocurrency can be withdrawn in another. Qubit Finance operates a bridge between Ethereum and the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) network.
In a recent report, research firm Chainalysis revealed that scammers mooched off over $14 billion worth of cryptocurrency from victims in 2021 —up by 79 per cent from $7.8 billion in 2020. As of early 2022, Chainalysis said illicit address already hold over $10 billion worth of cryptocurrencies, with the majority of this held by wallets associated with cryptocurrency theft.
It should be noted that the rise in decentralized finance (DeFi) which facilitates crypto-denominated lending outside traditional banking, has been a big factor in the increase in stolen funds and scams. The firm says hackers have targeted DeFis the most, in yet another warning for those dabbling in this emerging segment of the crypto industry.
“DeFi is one of the most exciting areas of the wider cryptocurrency ecosystem, presenting huge opportunities to entrepreneurs and cryptocurrency users alike,” Chainalysis wrote in its annual Crypto Crime report.