The 51 percent attack is an attempt to dominate the network by capturing more than half of a Blockchain’s mining hashrate. Bitcoin SV, Verge, and Ethereum Classic are projects that suffered a 51% attack years ago. In a hot development, a group called Risk Free Value (RFV) has lost over $2 million in cryptocurrencies on this altcoin network.
This altcoin network failed to stop a coordinated 51 percent attack
The Aragon Association was the target of a group known as Risk Free Value (RFV) on May 10. The raiders managed to take over 51% of the network, forcing the Aragon DAO to restart.
The venture is reportedly for financial gain. The offensive group was trying to manipulate the use of ANT for financial gain. The group, which includes a large asset management firm called Arca Capital Management, is accused of liquidating Rook DAO and stealing value from Aragon.
Today, the Aragon Association acted on its fiduciary duty to secure its treasury by repurposing the Aragon DAO into a grants program.
This is a response to a coordinated attack by the group known as "Risk Free Value Raiders" who took down Rook DAO. 🧵https://t.co/tVp9QXUUsx
— Aragon 🦅 (@AragonProject) May 9, 2023
In response to this attack, Aragon redesigned the existing Aragon DAO to fund developers through a grant program. The purpose of this program is to fund DAO creators launching new Aragon DAOs, dApps and plugins. It will also allow them to launch their ideas faster in Aragon OSx and Aragon App.
Since its inception, Aragon grant programs have played a key role in financing important projects such as Snapshot, Frame.sh and Dappnode, which play important roles in the industry.
Aragon DAO restructuring
The new move will not only secure the Aragon treasury. It also ensures that funds are allocated to developers. The Aragonese treasury was established with the clear mission of supporting its developers to advance the DAO infrastructure. In addition, Swiss regulators mandate that the Aragon treasury be used for its stated social purpose. Therefore, it forces Aragon to protect these funds from those who want to access them for their own financial gain.
Autopsy report of the attack
The Risk Free Value (RFV) Raiders, a group of sophisticated and well-resourced actors targeting crypto projects with an imbalance between token value and treasury, were responsible for the 51% attack on the Aragon DAO. This group of actors has tried to take down many DAOs and their communities, including Invictus DAO, Fei Protocol, Rome DAO, and Temple DAO. A member of the group was even jailed for involvement in the Mango DAO hacking attempt.
Aragon’s treasury was a clear target. Therefore, he was attacked by 51% by the coordinated RFV group in the Aragon DAO. The hacker group is accused of manipulating the token price for financial gain at the expense of the organization’s mission. Arca Capital Management, a member of the RFV Raiders, is guilty of attacking Aragon for financial profit.
$67M in various crypto assets have been returned to the DAO. Let’s meet up on Monday 3 PM UTC on the Mango discord to discuss, how we can sort out this mess.
— Mango (@mangomarkets) October 15, 2022
How did the Aragon DAO hack start?
The Aragon DAO attack began on May 2 when there was a sudden and suspicious spike in Discord server activity. The moderators observed signs that this activity was being coordinated. They later confirmed this observation by doing further research. Most of the people who participated in this activity had joined the server less than 45 days ago. During this time, the group was systematically collecting information about the DAO’s operations and vulnerabilities.
On May 3, the attackers launched their attack by launching a series of coordinated attacks aimed at draining the DAO’s funds. They exploited a vulnerability in the DAO’s smart contract code. This vulnerability allowed attackers to create multiple malicious offers that, when approved, would transfer large sums of money to their accounts.
Altcoin project quickly secured the network
Fortunately, Aragon’s security team responded quickly. They were able to prevent the vast majority of attacks from succeeding. Among the measures were the freezing of the DAO’s assets and the application of a whitelist of trusted persons authorized to submit bids.
But despite the team’s efforts, the attackers were still able to successfully implement some of their suggestions. This resulted in the loss of over $2 million in cryptocurrencies. ANT price reacted to all developments with a decline.
Aragon (ANT) price down 5%
Aragon’s native token, ANT, dropped over 5% after the attack. Its price dropped from $2.95 to $2.83. At the time of writing, it is trading at $2.75, down 5.4% on the day, according to data from CoinGecko.
cryptocoin.comWe have included other hacking attempts that have occurred in recent weeks on this page.
