Decentralized Exchange KyberSwap Hacked, Loses $46M

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KyberSwap has become the latest decentralized exchange to fall victim to a hack, with the attacker draining nearly $50 million from the DEX aggregator. 

KyberSwap has advised all users to withdraw their funds from the exchange as a precautionary measure, with the exploiter stating he is open to negotiations. 

Details Of The Hack 

The KyberSwap team alerted users on the 23rd of November through a post on X (formerly Twitter) that KyberSwap Elastic had suffered a security incident. The team also advised users to withdraw their funds as a precaution, adding that it was investigating the incident and would share an update. 

“Dear KyberSwap Elastic Users, We regret to inform you that KyberSwap Elastic has experienced a security incident. As a precautionary measure, we strongly advise all users to promptly withdraw their funds. Our team is diligently investigating the situation, and we commit to keeping you informed with regular updates. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation during this challenging time.”

Blockchain investigators also highlighted the impacted wallets and the wallet address of the exploiter that was recently active. Data from Debank has shown that the hacker stole around $48 million from KyberSwap during the attack. This included roughly $20 million in Wrapped Ether (wETH), $7 million in Wrapped Lido-staked Ether (wstETH), and $4 million in Arbitrum (ARB) tokens. Additionally, the stolen funds were split between multiple chains, including Optimism, Arbitrum, Polygon, Ethereum, and Base. 

Blockchain investigator Spreek, after analyzing the attack, stated on X that he was pretty sure this was not an approval-related issue and was only related to the TVL (Total Value Locked) held in the Kyber pools. 

Hacker Open To Negotiations 

Meanwhile, the hacker has stated that he is open to negotiations. The attacker communicated with protocol developers and DAO members using on-chain messages, saying that negotiations could start in a few hours after he is fully rested. Meanwhile, KyberSwap’s TVL has tanked, according to data from DeFiLlama. The data shows that KyberSwap’s TVL dropped by over 68% in a matter of hours. The data also showed that almost $78 million had left the protocol thanks to the hack and user withdrawals. Currently, KyberSwap’s TVL stands at $27 million, considerably less than its peak TVL of 2023, $134 million. 

Meanwhile, the Kyber Network Crystal KNC token registered a drop of 7% following the news of the exploit. However, the token has since recovered and is trading at $0.74.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.