Mixin Network, a decentralized cross-chain protocol, has reached out to the hacker responsible for a $200 million exploit on September 23. In an encrypted message attached to the exploiter’s transaction, they’ve extended a bold offer of a $20 million bug bounty in exchange for the return of the remaining stolen funds. The reasoning behind this offer is clear – the majority of the pilfered assets belonged to users.
To add context, Mixin Network confirmed the exploit on September 25. According to their findings, the hackers managed to penetrate a third-party cloud service provider, resulting in the theft of nearly $200 million in assets from the platform, as reported by Todayq News on September 25, 2023.
In response, Mixin’s founder, Feng Xiaodong, promised to reimburse affected users with up to 50% of their losses. The remaining portion would be returned in the form of bond tokens, repurchased using the company’s earnings.
While the specifics of the exploit remain undisclosed, it’s worth noting that cross-chain protocols in the decentralized finance (DeFi) realm are frequent targets for such incidents. Shockingly, more than half of all DeFi exploits occur within the domain of cross-chain protocols, leading to staggering losses exceeding $2.5 billion.
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This vulnerability is inherent to the nature of these protocols, designed to facilitate interoperability between various blockchain networks, thus pooling substantial assets from multiple sources, thereby making them attractive targets for hackers.
Major banks, including Chase, a prominent banking giant in the U.K., have recently announced the discontinuation of crypto-linked payment services for its U.K. clients. The primary reason cited is concerns related to crypto-related fraud.
This move aligns with other U.K. banks that have similarly restricted crypto transactions. The Financial Conduct Authority has also been involved in facilitating discussions between banks and crypto firms due to these concerns.
The situation faced by Mixin Network is not unique within the DeFi ecosystem. In a notable case, three prominent DeFi platforms Curve Finance, Metronome, and Alchemix, collaborated to recover $70 million stolen in a hack that occurred on July 30th. Their strategy involved offering a 10% reward to the hacker responsible in exchange for the return of the remaining 90% of the stolen funds, as reported by Todayq News on