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$31 Million Stolen in MonoX DeFi Hack
The decentralised finance (DeFi) market has been hit by yet another hack, with US$31 million in a variety of cryptos stolen from MonoX Finance in the latest episode.
MonoX released a statement in which it apologised to users and regretted its security measures had somehow been breached:
First, we want to extend immediate, sincerest apologies toward the incident and we assure you our entire team and partners are all working on this right now. Security of users’ funds is of utmost importance to us and we have had multiple security audits and a security adviser firm that work with us on an ongoing basis. However, unfortunately, we were still exploited.
DeFi Déjà Vu
The hacker attached MonoX Finance’s smart contracts, exploiting the single token liquidity platform and draining the funds of tokens across Ethereum and Polygon.
MonoX, which launched last month on Polygon and Ethereum, is a DeFi platform that offers liquidity pools in which traders can place their tokens and receive tokens in return. Rather than a standard pool model, MonoX pools function by grouping a deposited token “into a virtual pair with our virtual cash stablecoin (vCASH)”.
The hack netted US$18.2 million in wrapped ether (WETH) and US$10.5 million in Polygon (MATIC). Polygon, formerly Matic, is a proof-of-stake blockchain that helps take some of the load from the Ethereum blockchain. Other tokens taken included WBTC, LINK, GHST, DUCK, MIM and IMX.
In August, the largest DeFi hack on record took place on the Poly Network, a multi-chain platform that provides interoperability between blockchains. The attack, which took place on the Binance Smart Chain, Ethereum and Polygon, siphoned off a record-breaking US$600 million.
‘REKT By Their Own Token’
The hack was made possible via price manipulation of the project’s native token, MONO. The platform explained that the price of MONO tokens was artificially boosted, enabling the hacker to use tokens to buy the other assets in the pools at much cheaper rates.
Hacks, Hacks, and More Hacks
DeFi hacks have become increasingly prevalent, with devastating effects on a range of projects. Earlier this year, Zabu Finance, a DeFi project built atop the Avalanche blockchain, was exploited for around US$3.2 million worth of its native token, Zabu, plummeting its price to zero in minutes.
Author
Jana Serfontein
Jana has keen interest in what cryptocurrencies have to offer in regards to NGO’s, governments and the financial system. And is also intrigued with the psychological effect that cryptocurrencies have on society.
