Hackers from the DPRK intimidated cryptocurrency traders and crashed the largest crypto exchange
25 December 2024 13:51
The cryptocurrency derivatives exchange Hyperliquid has experienced the largest daily outflow of funds in its history after traders began to withdraw their digital assets en masse. The reason for this was concern about the possible presence of North Korean hackers on the platform, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports with reference to Bloomberg.
According to Taylor Monahan, a security expert who works for MetaMask (a digital wallet developer), digital wallets linked to North Korean hackers have been trading on Hyperliquid since at least October. Monahan published the addresses of the suspicious wallets and information about their activity on the social network X on Monday. According to her, such trading operations are commonly used by North Korean hackers to test potential security vulnerabilities in platforms like Hyperliquid.
Hyperliquid Labs, the team behind the exchange, responded with a statement:
“We are aware of reports of activity from suspected DPRK addresses. There has been no hacking by the DPRK – or any other hacking – on Hyperliquid. All user funds are safe.”
Follow us on Telegram: the main news in a nutshell
Monahan’s posts sparked a wide discussion on social media, with some Hyperliquid supporters criticizing her for creating unwarranted panic. According to the Hashed venture fund on the Dune Analytics platform, more than $112 million in USDC stablecoin was withdrawn from the exchange on Monday alone. The price of the HYPE token fell by 20%, according to the CoinGecko tracker.
Hyperliquid is a special type of crypto exchange that combines the advantages of both centralized exchanges (like Binance) and decentralized ones (like Uniswap). The exchange provides a certain level of transparency typical of decentralized exchanges, as it operates on its own blockchain. At the same time, the platform sacrifices some of the benefits of decentralization – the software supporting the blockchain ledger is managed by a closed development team – to provide competitive high speeds similar to centralized exchanges.
Hyperliquid has quickly become the largest crypto exchange by trading volume in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space, with an average daily volume of $8.8 billion last week. The platform recently reached a record 24-hour trading volume of more than $15 billion.
Follow us on Telegram: the main news in a nutshell
