Decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Loopscale has agreed with the hackers responsible for its recent $5.8 million exploit. The hackers have decided to return most of the stolen funds in exchange for a 10% bounty, marking a rare instance of an amicable resolution in the crypto security landscape.
On April 26, Loopscale suffered a significant breach when attackers manipulated the pricing of its RateX PT token. This manipulation led to a loss of approximately $5.7 million in USD Coin (USDC) and 1,200 Solana (SOL) from the platform’s vaults. The exploit targeted depositors in the USDC and SOL vaults, while the RateX collateral system remained unaffected.
In response, Loopscale immediately restricted vault withdrawals and temporarily halted all markets to investigate the incident. On April 27, the platform publicly proposed a whitehat bounty deal to the hacker: return 90% of the stolen assets (approximately 35,527 SOL) and receive a 10% reward (around 3,947 SOL) and immunity from legal actions.
By April 28, the hacker agreed to the terms, signalling a willingness to return the stolen funds and claim the bounty. Loopscale expressed gratitude for the hacker’s cooperation and promised to provide updates on the resumption of vault withdrawals and a detailed post-mortem of the breach in the coming days.
In the first quarter of 2025, the cryptocurrency sector experienced significant security challenges, with over $1.6 billion lost to hacks, the highest quarterly total recorded. High-profile breaches continued into Q2, including thefts from SIR.trading ($572,000), ZKSync ($5 million), and KiloEx ($7 million). Loopscale’s strategy of negotiation and bounty incentives to address hacks may serve as a potential model for other DeFi platforms dealing with similar issues.
Notably, the North Korean Lazarus Group uses deceptive tactics by creating fake cryptocurrency companies to distribute malware. These sham entities, including BlockNovas, Angeloper Agency, and SoftGlide, posed as legitimate businesses offering job opportunities in the crypto sector.
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