Solana-Based Liquidity Hub Forked After FTX Hack

Liquidity hub Serum had to be forked as it was compromised when a hack targeted the crypto exchange FTX.

Developers Launch New Fork

The widely used Solana-based liquidity hub Serum was compromised in the November 11 hack of the FTX crypto exchange, which led to several unauthorized transactions. As a result, Solana developers worked through the weekend to fork the hub by creating and deploying a verified build of the same version. One such developer, who goes by the online pseudonym of Mango Max, tweeted the news and also revealed that the upgrade authority and fee revenues have been put under the management of a team of trusted developers through a multi-sig mechanism.

Mango Max also revealed that the Serum update key was not controlled by the Serum decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). Instead, it was controlled by a private key connected to FTX. Since no one could confirm who controlled the key and the team could not update the original version of Serum without the private key, the developers were forced to fork the code. Finally, they disclosed that both Serum (SRM) and MegaSerum (MSRM) tokens have not been affected by the exposure or the fork and are functioning as before.

Solana Platforms Join New Fork

Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko revealed that the upgraded key on the liquidity hub was compromised after the FTX hack, which required the forking of the code. 

He tweeted, 

“The devs that depend on serum are forking the program because the upgrade key to the current one is compromised. This has nothing to do with SRM or even Jump. A ton of protocols depend on serum markets for liquidity and liquidations.”

Liquidity provider Jupiter, which is the most popular aggregator on Solana, revealed that following the FTX hack, the team had security concerns about Serum’s upgrade authorities and had to turn it off as a liquidity source. The team clarified that it would support the new fork. Mango Markets and SolBlaze have also announced their integration with the new fork. 

SOL Affected By FTX Drama

After a catastrophic week of plummeting valuation, the FTX exchange was dragged further through the mud when it was hacked. The team updated the community on its official Telegram channel and revealed that the attack resulted in losses worth $600 million. The attack saw several tokens, including SOL, being siphoned off from FTX wallets and transferred to decentralized exchanges like 1inch. However, SOL was hit hard even before the hack occurred. The crisis at FTX and Alameda Research affected Solana’s TVL (total value locked), which dropped nearly 33% last Wednesday.  

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.