SafeMoon exchange settles with hackers for the return of 80% of the stolen funds
20% will go to the hackers as a reward
19.04.2023 - 11:25
564
2 min
0
What’s new? The hackers who hacked SafeMoon, a decentralized crypto exchange (DEX), on March 28 agreed to return 80% of the $8,9 million stolen from the liquidity pool. They will keep 20% as a reward. The main condition of the deal was that the exchange would refuse to press charges and prosecute. On April 18 a Twitter user under the nickname SafeMoonSpidey reported this with reference to the captions to the transactions from the SafeMoon deployment address, where the platform’s representatives accepted the proposed conditions.
Breaking News: #SafeMoon has struck a deal with the “hacker”80% LP return imminent. 20% bounty for “hacker”And no charges pressedNow, back to your regularly scheduled program. 🔥🚀 pic.twitter.com/x94fSb4EoP — SafeMoonSpidey.sfm ⎷ (@SafeMoonSpidey) April 18, 2023
What else is known about the incident? Hackers exploited a vulnerability in the token burning mechanism, with the attack itself being initiated using the address of the project’s developer. Analysts speculate that the reason could have been a leak of the administrator’s key.
Later, the hackers contacted SafeMoon, calling their actions accidental, and said they intended to return the funds. The next day, they transferred more than $1,26 million in BNB tokens to the exchange.
As part of the agreement, the exchange will receive about $7,12 million; the hackers will keep $1,78 million, with no legal action to be taken by the platform.
“After careful consideration of the circumstances, it is believed this is the best in the best interest of SafeMoon and the community,” the exchange wrote.
A similar incident occurred with the Euler Finance DeFi protocol. On March 13, it lost more than $175 million in a hacking attack. On March 20 the attacker contacted the project and said he was ready to return all funds, and on April 4 the Euler Finance team reported that after successful negotiations the hacker had returned the entire amount.
Useful material?
Incidents
Developers warned of potential risks to bridges across the ecosystem and asked exchanges for assistance.
Jun 22, 2026
Incidents
The defendant helped move funds stolen through investment scams and earned at least $4 million for his role in the operation.
Jun 10, 2026
Incidents
The company is linking the incident to a compromised private key on a service wallet, rather than a smart contract exploit
May 22, 2026
Incidents
Following the incident, the project temporarily halted trading operations and node activity.
May 15, 2026
Incidents
The user spent weeks unsuccessfully trying to guess the password until Claude helped find an old wallet backup file
May 14, 2026
Crypto regulations
Authorities are introducing mandatory registration for companies handling cross-border crypto transactions
May 8, 2026
Telegram
Twitter