Market maker Wintermute loses $160 million in hack attack
The co-founder of the project said that all user funds are safe
20.09.2022 - 12:00
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What’s new? The DeFi protocol of Wintermute, a market maker, was subjected to a hacker attack, which resulted in the loss of about $160 million in cryptocurrency. The hack was reported by the project’s co-founder Evgeny Gaevoy on his Twitter account. He noted that centralized finance (CeFi) protocols and over-the-counter (OTC) operations were not affected. Gaevoy also added that the platform is likely to experience disruptions over the next few days.
We’ve been hacked for about $160M in our defi operations. Cefi and OTC operations are not affected— wishful cynic (@EvgenyGaevoy) September 20, 2022
What else is known about the situation? According to the co-founder of the project, at the moment all user funds are safe. In this, Gaevoy noted that the company has twice the amount stolen by hackers, so Wintermute remains “solvent.”
In total, the hackers stole more than 90 different assets, and only two worth more than $1 million. So there should not be a noticeable sell-off, as Gaevoy noted.
He also said that he is still willing to cooperate with the hackers, and offered to pay a reward if they return the stolen funds and tell them the method of the hack.
What is known about Wintermute? The cryptocurrency project was founded in 2017. The company positions itself as “a new generation algorithmic trading firm.” It provides liquidity to other companies and has its own digital asset exchange.
On September 18, hackers withdrew $565 000 from GMX, a decentralized exchange, after which the platform’s native token fell by 20%. Representatives of GMX confirmed the price manipulation on AVAX/USD pair and added that the GLP and GMX trading markets continue to operate as usual.
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