UwU loan hit by $20M crypto hack

UwU's loan protocol was hacked on Monday, June 10 for nearly $20 million in an ongoing cryptocurrency exploit.

The $14 million exploit was first discovered by chain security firm Syvers, which wrote in a June 10 X post.

“Hey @UwU_Lend, you're being attacked! So far, Address has earned around $14 million…”

UwU Lend is a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol that functions as a liquid market, allowing users to deposit and lend digital assets.

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UwU exploitation more than 20 million dollars – the founder of Syvers

In less than an hour after Syvers' first warning, an unknown hacker stole more than $20 million in ongoing exploits.

While the team is still investigating the incident, it's shaping up to be a major cryptocurrency hack affecting multiple assets, said Mayer Dolev, CEO and co-founder of Cyver Technologies.

Dolev told Cointelegraph:

“The attack is still ongoing, but we can already see that we are talking about a large event that has already exceeded the $20 million threshold. We are talking about various assets (such as WBTC and DAI) that flow from the pools and are converted into ETH.

Shortly after the attack, Syvers revealed that the attack was powered by the crypto mixing protocol Tornado Cash and carried out three malicious transactions. Dolev said:

“The UwU loan deal involved three transactions in six minutes and nearly $20 million for a striker. The striker was funded by Tornado Cash two days ago.

Related: Crypto Hacks Will Increase in 2024, But Smart Contracts Are Not Responsible

In the year Crypto hacks are set to surpass 2023 in 2024.

Crypto hackers may be on track to surpass 2023 in terms of stolen digital assets. In the first quarter of 2024, hackers stole $542.7 million worth of digital assets, a 42 percent increase compared to the same period in 2023.

One of the reasons for the rising value of cryptocurrency, which has been attracting malicious actors since early 2024, is stolen money.

The growing cyber exploitation is because attackers are racing to find easy targets, said Mriganka Patnaik, founder and CEO of crypto threat and intelligence platform Merck Science.

Patnaik to Cointelegraph:

“While smart contract vulnerabilities remain a concern, hackers are targeting areas outside of smart contracts, such as private key hashes. Often due to phishing attacks or unsafe storage practices, these liquids have caused significant losses.

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