Solana-based platform Pump.fun suffered an exploit that left the crypto community with many questions. The attack stole millions of dollars in users’ funds, but the reasons behind it and the exact amount of the loot were unclear. Amid the uncertainty, some claimed that a crypto Robinhood had emerged.
$80 Million Taken In Crypto Heist?
On Thursday, the platform Pump.fun announced its bounding curve contracts had been compromised. In the post, the team alerted users that all trading was temporarily halted while they investigated the incident.
Pump.fun is a trading platform created to “prevent rugs” by ensuring that all created crypto tokens are safe. The platform allows users to easily launch instantly tradeable tokens with no presale and no team allocation.
This solution became an extremely popular alternative among influencers and users who wanted to create tokens without the complexity or high costs of launching a project.
It uses bonding curve contracts for the tokens, a mathematical model that determines a token’s price based on supply, increasing with the number of tokens bought. After the token’s market capitalization reaches $69,000, part of the liquidity is deposited on Raydium to be burned.
Since the attack, the team has assured users that the contracts have been upgraded to prevent further fund loss, adding that the protocol’s total value locked (TVL) is safe.
However, the community’s reports were contradictory and alarming. Some users claimed the attacker had taken $80 million in crypto from the platform’s bonding curve contracts, which worried the affected users.
According to Lookonchain’s report, the hacker was quickly identified. At first, he pretended to be an unaware user, asking what the damages were. However, he later accused the platform’s founders of withdrawing the exact amount stolen a day prior.
An X user claimed the individual chose to “be a Robin Hood, dropping hacked cash to $SOL communities.” The attacker also stated in a post his desire to “change the course of history.” However, his “heroic outlaw” endeavors affected 1,882 addresses.
What Happened?
Despite the speculation and the attacker’s posts, it was later revealed that he was a Pump.fun ex-employee. In its post-mortem post, the platform’s team revealed that the individual had used their position to misappropriate funds from the bonding curve contracts.
The attacker illegitimately accessed the accounts after obtaining the private keys, “using their privileged position at the company.” The former employee used flash loans from Solana lending protocol to steal 12,300 SOL, worth around $1.9 million.
Per the post, he borrowed SOL to buy as many tokens as possible in Pump.fun. When the tokens hit 100% on their respective bonding curves, the attacker used the keys to access the bonding curve liquidity and repay the flash loans.
Fortunately, the attacker could only access $1.9 million out of the $45 million liquidity in contracts. Since then, the team has redeployed the bonding curve contracts and offered a plan to help affected crypto investors.
To make users whole, the team will “seed the LPs for each affected coin with an equal or greater amount of SOL liquidity that the coin had at 15:21 UTC within the next 24 hours.” Moreover, they are offering 0% trading fees for the next 7 days. As a user pointed out, this action is “non-trivial” since Pump.fun makes $1 million daily from fees.
Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com
Rubmar Garcia
Rubmar is a writer and translator who has been a crypto enthusiast for the past four years. Her goal as a writer is to create informative, complete, and easily understandable pieces accessible to those entering the crypto space. After learning about cryptocurrencies in 2019, Rubmar became curious about the world of possibilities the industry offered, quickly learning that financial freedom was at the palm of her hand with the developing technology. From a young age, Rubmar was curious about how languages work, finding special interest in wordplay and the peculiarities of dialects. Her curiosity grew as she became an avid reader in her teenage years. She explored freedom and new words through her favorite books, which shaped her view of the world. Rubmar acquired the necessary skills for in-depth research and analytical thinking at university, where she studied Literature and Linguistics. Her studies have given her a sharp perspective on several topics and allowed her to turn every stone in her investigations. In 2019, she first dipped her toes in the crypto industry when a friend introduced her to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, but it wasn’t until 2020 that she started to dive into the depth of the industry. As Rubmar began to understand the mechanics of the crypto sphere, she saw a new world yet to be explored. At the beginning of her crypto voyage, she discovered a new system that allowed her to have control over her finances. As a young adult of the 21st century, Rubmar has faced the challenges of the traditional banking system and the restrictions of fiat money. After the failure of her home country’s economy, the limitations of traditional finances became clear. The bureaucratic, outdated structure made her feel hopeless and powerless amid an aggressive and distorted system created by hyperinflation. However, learning about decentralization and self-custody opened a realm of opportunities. Cryptocurrencies allowed her to experience financial control for the first time and expand her financial education. Moreover, the peculiar nature of the crypto community sparked Rubmar’s curiosity about the other layers of the industry. As a result, she found a particular interest in discovering the diverse perspectives of investors, market watchers, experts, and developers. Her attempts to better understand the crypto space made her realize the strong links of the community with other industries, enriching her perspective of the sector. As someone who spends most of her day online, Rubmar enjoys finding the points where the crypto world meets with her other passions and hobbies –or her favorite memes. In her free time, she usually finds joy in different art forms. As a child, she enlisted in every extra-curricular activity in her hometown, including music classes, dancing, jewelry making, and the local chorus. Despite her many attempts to learn different instruments, Rubmar only knows how to play the xylophone, which she played for 7 years in her school’s marching band. She also has a passion for learning new languages and cultures, having set the goal to learn another six languages – currently attempting to learn Italian and Korean. Scrapbooking, paper crafting, and bookbinding are her biggest interests outside of work, constantly taking classes and attending workshops to learn new techniques. The rest of her free time is spent stressing over football matches and transfer market news or feeding cats –hers or stray. In summary, Rubmar seeks to present entertaining and educational pieces to be enjoyed by everybody, aiming to report on the latest news and offer a unique perspective while adding a meme or a pun whenever possible.
Disclaimer: The information found on NewsBTC is for educational purposes only. It does not represent the opinions of NewsBTC on whether to buy, sell or hold any investments and naturally investing carries risks. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use information provided on this website entirely at your own risk.
