In yet another major crypto heist, a trader has lost $36 million after falling victim to a phishing attack.
A crypto trader has suffered a devastating $36 million loss after falling prey to a cyberattack on Friday. The attacker deceived the trader into signing a “permit” phishing signature, which granted access to their digital wallet.
The incident was first reported by Roffett.eth, a pseudonymous user on X, who revealed that the hacker managed to steal 15,079 Future Wrapped Derivable ETH ($fwDETH) from the trader’s wallet and promptly liquidated the assets. This sudden sale had a detrimental effect on the market, causing the value of the underlying asset, Derivable ETH ($DETH), to plummet dramatically within minutes.
Impact on the Market
The significant decline in $DETH’s price also adversely affected various decentralized protocols that depend on the token’s liquidity and scalability. According to Roffett.eth, the mispricing of the token resulted in vulnerabilities for PAC Finance and Orbit Finance, leading to their exploitation.
Furthermore, the pseudonymous X user warned that DuoExchange might also be at risk, advising traders to withdraw their funds from the decentralized finance platform.
Shortly after Roffett.eth’s warning, blockchain analysts like Lookonchain speculated that the victim might be linked to Continue Capital, a venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage investments. Reports suggested that the company’s co-founder, Lin Xiaohong, may be the trader who suffered the loss.
Crazy!
Someone(probably related to @ContinueFund) lost 15,079 fwDETH(worth $36M) by signing a "permit" phishing signature 6 hours ago!
To avoid being phished, please do not click on any unknown links and do not sign any unknown signatures.
Always double-check when signing… pic.twitter.com/dTG4Uzsf43— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) October 11, 2024
Ongoing Cyber Threats
The incident is part of a worrying trend of hacking attacks within the crypto sector. In just the previous month, hackers stole approximately $120 million across 20 different attacks.
Targets included various companies, such as BingX, Penpie, Indodax, Delta Prime, Truflation, Shezmu, Onyx, BananaGun, Bedrock, and CUT, with one company suffering a loss of as much as $44 million.
Prior to these September incidents, hackers exploited vulnerabilities at WazirX, India’s largest crypto exchange, draining around $230 million from the platform in August. This amount accounted for roughly 45% of the exchange’s customers’ funds.
Since then, the industry has seen a spate of attacks across various sectors. Between January and June 2024, hackers stole about $1.38 billion from the crypto market, according to a report by TRM Labs.
The figure marks a significant increase compared to the same period in 2023, when losses from crypto thefts totaled $657 million. TRM Labs attributed the surge in stolen assets in part to “higher average token prices,” which have contributed to the rising figures.
Meanwhile, as the year draws closer to its end, it remains uncertain whether additional attacks will occur within the crypto space.
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