There was a new development in the event, which was called the biggest DeFi hack of 2023. The hacker, who carried out the attack in question, started to return the altcoin assets he stole. Here are the details…
Euler hacker returns 3,000 ETH: Altcoin price jumps
cryptocoin.com As we have also reported, in the past weeks, $197 million of Euler Finance was stolen by a hacker. However, surprisingly, it appears that the hacker may have changed his mind. On March 18, 3,000 ETH worth $5.4 million was returned from the hacker’s address to Euler Finance’s address. While this is a substantial amount of money, it is important to note that not all of the assets stolen have yet been returned.
👀 https://t.co/4OBksAu9od pic.twitter.com/Zb3MIyex2f
— PeckShield Inc. (@peckshield) March 18, 2023
The hacker used multiple transactions to drain the funds and then used a multi-chain (multi-chain bridge) to transfer the stolen funds from the BNB Smart Chain to Ethereum. Shortly after Euler Finance announced that it would reward the hacker with a $1 million reward, The stolen funds were seen moved to a crypto mixer/mixer called Tornado Cash.
In an attempt to recover the funds, Euler Finance asked the hacker to return 90 percent of the stolen funds within 24 hours to avoid possible jail time. While the latest return of 3,000 ETH is a positive development, it is not yet clear whether the hacker will return all the assets. Immediately after the news broke, Euler’s EUL token surged close to 100 percent. The cryptocurrency rose from $1.77 to $3.86. It’s changing hands at $3.60 at the time of writing.
DeFi hacks cause concern in the field
DeFi hacks have become a growing concern in the cryptocurrency industry, and this incident highlights the need for tighter security measures. Euler Finance’s response to the attack, including an announcement of a reward and a request for a refund of stolen funds, shows that companies are taking these incidents seriously and are willing to take action to protect their clients’ funds. A recent discovery by Lookonchain revealed that the wallet address controlled by the Euler Finance hacker sent 100 ETH to a wallet used by the Lazarus Group to hack Ronin last year.
Euler Finance Exploiter transferred 100 $ETH to Ronin Bridge Exploiter(stole 173,600 $ETH and 25.5M $USDC).
Ronin Bridge Exploiter was listed by #OFAC as Lazarus Group – the North Korean state hacking group.
Are the two hackers the same person or was it intentional? pic.twitter.com/aPzOkSlXb6
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) March 17, 2023
This move raises suspicions that Lazarus Group may be the group behind the theft of protocol funds or that it has some dark connections there. As it is known, Lazarus Group is accused by the US Department of Justice of being the group behind the Ronin Bridge attack, which caused damage of up to $625 million, and the Horizon Bridge security incident of $100 million in June.
Euler Finance suffered a sudden credit attack on March 13, resulting in losses of up to nine figures. After the incident, Euler offered a $1 million reward in exchange for the attacker’s capture and return of the stolen funds. The hacker even returned 100 ETH to someone who claimed to be the victim of the attack and lost 78 ETH.
