Ethereum Stablecoin Dapp Loses Over $180 Million in Exploit

Key Insights:

• Beanstalk Farms suffered a $182 million exploit in which over 24.8k ETH and 36M BEAN were stolen.
• The protocol’s TVL just recently crossed the $150 million mark.
• The exploiter also made a 250k donation to the Ukraine Crypto Donation.

2022 does not seem to want to take a break when it comes to crypto cyber attacks, as today, another Ethereum-based Decentralized Finance (DeFi) protocol called the Beanstalk Farms was exploited for $182 million.

April Witnesses Its First Major Attack

As revealed by the blockchain security and data analytics company Peckshield Inc., an unnatural transaction seems to have taken place on Ethereum, and it was reported to the Dapp.

The transaction included millions in Ethereum (ETH), BEAN, DAI, and USDT.

Upon closer inspection, it became evident that the transaction was born out of the exploit, which was later confirmed by the protocol itself. Announcing on Twitter, Beanstalk Farms stated,

“Beanstalk suffered an exploit today. The Beanstalk Farms team is investigating the attack and will make an announcement to the community as soon as possible… We’re engaging all efforts to try to move forward. As a decentralized project, we are asking the DeFi community and experts in chain analytics to help us limit the exploiter’s ability to withdraw funds via CEXes. If the exploiter is open to a discussion, we are as well.”

According to Peckshield, the hack was executed thanks to the flash loan assisted pass of BIP18. The hacker first withdrew over 100 ETH worth $291k, which acted as the initial funds needed to launch the attack.

The gains that came from the hack exceeding $80 million were deposited to Tornado Cash. Out of this $80 million, the hacker even donated $250k to the Ukraine Crypto Donation.

All in all, the hacker managed to run away with 24,830 worth $72.4 million and another 36 million BEAN, which up until yesterday was worth $36 million, but today it is merely worth $4.36 million.

The effect of the attack on the price action was so intense that the coin ended up losing more than 86% of its entire $1.1 value to trade at $0.12 at the moment.

Hacks and Exploits Emerging From?

While not one single entity can be blamed for this occurrence, North Korea usually has a much more frequent appearance for hacks this huge.

In fact, as reported by FXEmpire, the ruling party-run Lazarus group was also behind the biggest hack of crypto’s history, in which Axie Infinity’s Ronin Network lost $625 million.

The hackers single-handedly were responsible for exploiting more than $400 million in digital assets in 2021 and continue to draw attention to themselves. North Korea seems to be using this fund to further its missile program, which will motivate the Lazarus Group to conduct more similar hacks.