• A U.S. Attorney has charged a hacker for a $9 million crypto exploit over a Solana-based liquidity protocol in July 2022.
• The hacker was allowed to keep $1.6 million as a white hat bounty and made searches such as “can I cross border with crypto”, “how to stop federal government from seizing assets” and “buying citizenship”.
• He has been detained in New York and charged with wire fraud and money laundering in connection with the crypto attack which could result in a maximum 20 year jail sentence.
Hacker Charged Over $9 Million Crypto Exploit
A U.S. Attorney has charged the hacker behind a $9 million crypto exploit over a Solana-based liquidity protocol on 11 July. Homeland Security agent Chad Plantz said, “Financial crime strikes at the core of our national and economic banking security.“
Exploit Details
The crypto hack took place over the Solana [SOL] based liquidity protocol Crema Finance in July 2022, where the hacker exploited a smart contract bug to generate exorbitant costs for flash loans amounting up to $9 million from a decentralized Solana-based crypto exchange before laundering them across different blockchains and exchanges.
White Hat Bounty
Most of the funds were returned but the hacker was allowed to keep $1.6 million as a white hat bounty for reporting the vulnerability by himself while leaving an online trail that law enforcement was able to follow due to blockchain’s ability to track movements through digital wallets and transactions across multiple exchanges.
Charges Filed
The accused has been detained in New York and charged with wire fraud and money laundering in connection with the crypto attack, each offence carrying potential jail sentences of up to 20 years maximum if convicted by court of law .
Conclusion
This marks one of the first criminal cases involving an attack on a smart contract operated by a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange, emphasising how financial crimes must be taken seriously when it comes to maintaining consumer confidence within our financial system.