In a surprising development, an anonymous core contributor to the Solana exchange’s Cypher Protocol has confessed to embezzling and gambling away about $260,000 worth of the project’s cryptocurrencies.
The contributor, known only as “hoak,” publicly confirmed the allegations in a statement in a post on X on May 14, 2024.
“The allegations are true, I took the funds and gambled them away. I didn’t run away with it, nor did anyone else,”
hoak confessed.
This confession came after another anonymous contributor, “Barrett,” accused hoak of making 36 transactions from a wallet associated with the project. The transactions involved the withdrawal of various amounts of Ether (ETH), Bonk (BONK), Wrapped Solana (wSOL), and other cryptocurrencies from Cypher’s redemption contract, totalling around $260,000.
Barrett expressed shock at the action, stating:
“I never thought this would be a possibility, having a core contributor who stayed on after the exploit to try and rebuild the project be the one who rugged funds from the redemption contract.”
Barret also mentioned notifying law enforcement about hoak’s alleged actions.
In their statement, hoak attributed the actions to a “crippling gambling addiction” and “multiple other psychological factors.” They claimed that personal and career issues led them to find solace in Cypher but admitted to failing “to innovate within the DEX design space.”
“I completely lost it late last year and earlier this year to the point where simply trying to hold it together was impacting everything else in my life, distancing myself from long-time friends, family, not being able to meet the deadlines I set for myself, having erratic behaviours, you name it,” hoak wrote in the statement.
Despite acknowledging the severity of their actions, hoak expressed doubt about being able to make amends, stating, “likely nothing I say or do will make things better — perhaps other than rotting in jail.”
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