Bumbling hacker steals R$16 million in cryptocurrencies and loses it all after sending money to the wrong address

On another normal day in the cryptocurrency market, a hacker stole $3 million from the decentralized finance protocol rapidHowever, the digital ‘tumbler’ got confused and lost everything.

According to blockchain data, the hacker managed to steal 1,577 units of Ethereum from the protocol, but in an apparent desperation to hide the funds, he transferred the amount to the wrong address, making the funds permanently inaccessible.

Basically, the hacker transferred the coins to a burn wallet, instead of sending the tokens to your address. The mistake only cost the hacker $3.3 million, about 16 million reais.

The bumbling hacker’s story is even more curious because he received about 18 ethers from the controversial Mixer Tornado Cash, suggesting that the attacker lost the amount to finance the operation.

In the end, the hacker only had 14 ETH in his wallet, implying a net loss of approximately 1597 ETH given the original funds.

10 year old hacker

The incident has sparked mixed reactions in the cryptocurrency community, with some people even suggesting that the attacker is just a teenager starting his hacking career.

“10-year-old hacker, starting somewhere,” said a user on X (Twitter)

10 year old hacker, you gotta start somewhere

— Chris Blec (@ChrisBlec) November 10, 2023

Meanwhile, the team trailed Raft Protocol at a loss. The $3.3 million loss of Ethereum directly affected the stability of its own stablecoin, Raft (R).

After the incident, the token suffered a staggering devaluation, losing 95% of its value and costing just $0.08 per unit, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Although the Raft team tried to take emergency measures to mitigate the incident and save the R token, the efforts were in vain, forcing the community to liquidate its assets to minimize losses.

We are aware of a potential security issue.

We are currently investigating and will provide an update as soon as possible.

— Raft (@raft_fi) November 10, 2023

Commenting on the issue, the Raft team stated that they are working to refund affected users. The project functions as a DeFi lending platform and issues the R stablecoin, backed by Ethereum derivatives such as Lido’s stETH.

The incident marks the second major hack of the week, as on Friday (10) the Poloniex broker lost around $110 million after being attacked.

Returning to the Raft Hacker, no one can say for sure whether burning money was a mistake or an intentional decision, but the episode highlights the unpredictable nature of the world of decentralized finance.