Hope Lend, an Ethereum-based decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, has been left with little to no assets following a recent exploit. Not too long after the exploit, several blockchain security firms were quick to jump into the situation. These security firms identified two individuals responsible for the attack, with the first of the two being the original hacker, and a fortrunner who beat the original hacker.
These two exploiters managed to disappear with almost 526 ETH tokens, which currently account for a little over $825,000. The data shared by the blockchain security firm, CertiK, shows that the successful attacker gained almost 264 ETH and paid a 263 ETH bribe to a validator.
On October 18, 2023, at 11:48:59 AM +UTC, the HopeLend protocol fell victim to a hacker attack. It is important to note that the hacker did not profit from this attack.
The attack resulted in a loss of approximately 528 ETH, out of which 263.91 ETH were bribed by the frontrunner…
— Hope.money⚡️ (@Hope_money_) October 18, 2023
However, Hope Lend’s protocol developer, Hope.money came forward to present an entirely different version of the story. In a series of tweets on X, it was stated that a single hacker managed to get their hands on the entirety of the assets and later paid almost 263.91 ETH tokens to a validator allegedly managed by Lido Finance.
Hope.money further stated that all protocols deployed on the platform would under no circumstances impact other products and protocols. Similarly, users were also reassured that the fundamental aim of the platform is to protect the rights of the affected users and to take the necessary actions to ensure that funds remain safe.
Hope Lend Becomes the Newest Victim of the Attacks
Not too long ago, DefiLlama announced that it would investigate Hope Lend’s smart contracts for data curation purposes. As of now, Hope Lend has been left with no noticeable assets, and the developers haven’t exactly stated the cause of the exploit.
It is true that the percentage of exploits on crypto firms has increased drastically this year. Crypto assets worth millions of dollars have been stolen from numerous crypto exchanges and projects, and Hope Lend has become the most recent victim of these widespread attacks.
Authorities including the FBI currently believe that the North Korean-based hacker group, Lazarus Group, is behind these widespread attacks. The main motive for carrying out these attacks is to fund the Hermit Kingdom’s nuclear program.
Hope Lend announced that it would keep its users updated with any developments but hasn’t posted an update as of now. Many speculate that these assets might just be gone forever.
