Crypto: Hacker drains market maker Wintermute of $160 million

Sahana Kiran
Wintermute
Source – Unsplash

The crypto-verse is not nascent to hacks and scams. However, a massive theft can create chaos in the community. While the crypto market had just begun recovering from the carnage instigated by the bears, the CEO of prominent crypto market maker Wintermute reported an attack that drained $160 million from the firm.

In a series of tweets, CEO Evgeny Gaevoy pointed out that only the decentralized finance or DeFi wing of the firm was targeted. Funds in the centralized exchange and over-the-counter offerings were reportedly safe.

Furthermore, Gaevoy noted that over 90 assets were compromised but “only two have been for notional over $1 million (and none more than $2.5M).” Therefore, he assured the community that no major sell-off would occur.

Insolvency” is a common term that has been making the rounds in the crypto market lately. As a result, the CEO of Wintermute affirmed that the firm was still solvent. He added,

“We are solvent with twice over that amount in equity left. If you have a MM agreement with Wintermute, your funds are safe. There will be a disruption in our services today and potentially for the next few days and will get back to normal after.”

Additionally, addressing the lender’s part of Wintermute, Gaevoy once again suggested that the firm was solvent. However, those in doubt could recall the loan.

Wintermute views hack as a “white hat” event

Gaevoy concluded the series of tweets with a message for the hacker. The CEO revealed that the firm was treating it as a white hat event and urged the attacker to come forward. He wrote,

“We are (still) open to treating this as a white hat, so if you are the attacker – get in touch”

Meanwhile, Crypto Twitter managed to apparently find the address of the hacker. Several pointed out that the hacker had deposited a whopping $114 million into Curve.