New Year, New Breach: Cryptocurrency Hacking Ring Causes Over $89 Million in Losses in 2024

This week, three major cryptocurrency hacks rocked the world of digital assets, resulting in millions of dollars being stolen. From bridges hacked in New Year’s Eve heists to vulnerabilities in lending protocols, no corner of DeFi was safe. Want to know how it happened and what it means to you?

This quick guide breaks down each attack to provide you with the essential details you need to stay informed and cautiously navigate the cryptocurrency space.

Take the plunge.

Track Bridge Breach: Shocking $82 Million Incident

As 2024 began, a surprising exploit was revealed. On New Year’s Eve, hackers orchestrated an $81.7 million breach of Orbit Bridge, Orbit Chain’s bridging service. Interestingly, they compromised 7 out of 10 multi-sig signers and started with $10ETH from TornadoCash, a currency mixing service popular among hackers. These cryptocurrencies were then moved to a brokerage address.

The sophisticated attack consisted of five separate transactions. Hackers moved significant amounts of money, including $30 million in Tether (USDT), $10 million in USD Coin (USDC), $21.7 million in Ether (ETH), $9.8 million in Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), and $10 million in algorithmic stablecoin DAI. . Undisclosed wallet.

Radiant Capital’s Challenge: Discovering a $4.5 Million Breach

Cross-chain lending protocol Radiant Capital has shut down Arbitrum’s lending and borrowing marketplace after discovering an exploit with a reported $4.5 million (2337 ETH) linked to one of its newly created USDC Coin (USDC) markets.

The attacker manipulated the index parameter to become extremely large. dThere was a rounding issue in the contract calculation that resulted in a cumulative precision error.

As the index parameters rapidly inflated, the precision error also increased, ultimately allowing attackers to gain profits through repeated deposit() and withdrawal() operations.

Gamma Strategies’ Strategy: $3.4 Million Search Effort

Gamma Strategies, which specializes in Ethereum-based liquidity management, took a unique approach to address the $3.4 million exploit since January 4th. They engaged the attackers directly and began negotiating bounties to recover misappropriated digital assets.

I’d like to hear it. How are you adjusting your investment strategy in light of these attacks?