The Ethereum decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, Hope Lend, has fallen victim to a devastating hack, resulting in the loss of nearly all assets within its protocol. The breach occurred on October 18, 2023, and has sent shockwaves throughout the DeFi community.
According to reports from multiple blockchain security firms, two individuals were involved in this high-stakes heist. The first was a frontrunner who managed to beat the original hacker after discovering the exploit. Working in tandem, these two individuals managed to steal a staggering 526 Ether (ETH), which was equivalent to approximately $825,357 at the time of publication. The price of Ethereum was pegged at $1,565 per ETH during this time.
🚨SlowMist Security 🚨
Hope Lend was recently breached, resulting in a 526 ETH loss.
In a twist, a second hacker front-ran the initial attacker, paying a 263 ETH bribe.
Shoutout to @spreekaway for bringing awareness to this! https://t.co/E3x9zQqvCQ pic.twitter.com/L57WNJExkl
— SlowMist (@SlowMist_Team) October 18, 2023
The successful attacker seized 264 ETH, while the remaining 263 ETH were paid as a bribe to an Ethereum validator, as revealed by CertiK, a blockchain security firm.
Hope.money, the developer behind the Hope Lend protocol, presented a different version of the story. In their official statement, they claimed that a single hacker made off with 526 ETH, which amounted to users’ funds. They alleged that the hacker paid a bribe of 263.91 ETH to a validator that was purportedly managed by Lido Finance. In this version of events, the hacker was said to have profited by 264.08 ETH.
The developer’s statement reads: “On October 18, 2023, at 11:48:59 AM +UTC, the HopeLend protocol fell victim to a hacker attack. It is important to note that the hacker did not profit from this attack. The attack resulted in a loss of approximately 528 ETH, out of which 263.91 ETH were bribed by the frontrunner to a Validator (managed by Lido). The exploit frontrunner eventually profited by 264.08 ETH.”
On October 18, 2023, at 11:48:59 AM +UTC, the HopeLend protocol fell victim to a hacker attack. It is important to note that the hacker did not profit from this attack.
The attack resulted in a loss of approximately 528 ETH, out of which 263.91 ETH were bribed by the frontrunner…
— Hope.money⚡️ (@Hope_money_) October 18, 2023
Hope.money also made it clear that they were actively engaging with the parties involved and taking steps to recover the assets affected by the breach. They assured the community that the attack on Hope Lend would not affect other products and protocols deployed on their platform, including HopeCard, HopeSwap, and the native token HOPE.
The news of the hack has raised concerns among users and investors of Hope Lend, with many anxiously awaiting further updates from the protocol’s developer. The DeFi space is no stranger to security breaches, and these incidents can erode trust and have a significant impact on the value of the associated tokens.
Hope.money expressed their gratitude for the continued support and trust of the Hope community and pledged to provide further updates as more information becomes available.
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