• Euler Finance was recently attacked in a DeFi exploit that saw $198 million stolen by an unknown hacker.
• The hacker has now returned over $100 million worth of ETH back to the protocol.
• Reports suggest that the perpetrator may be linked to the notorious Lazarus Group.
Euler Finance Flash Loan Attack
Euler Finance, a decentralized lending platform, experienced one of the biggest DeFi exploits in 2023 which saw around $198 million worth of USDC, staked ether, wrapped BTC and DAI siphoned off from the protocol. The vulnerability had been present for over 8 months before it was exploited, leading to speculation about how long it may have gone unnoticed for by those responsible for its security.
Hacker Returns Funds
The hacker behind the attack rejected the $20 million bounty offered by Euler Finance and started laundering portions of their proceeds via TornadoCash. They also took some controversial actions such as returning funds to an Euler user who complained on Twitter about losing money in the exploit. Over this past weekend, two transactions were carried out returning over $104 million worth of ETH back to Euler Finance – 51,000 ETH sent back on March 25th and another 7,737 ETH sent hours later.
Possible Connection To Lazarus Group
Reports have suggested that the perpetrator could be linked to the notorious Lazarus Group – a North Korean cybercrime group known for their global operations which includes cryptocurrency theft and financial frauds amounting to millions of dollars each year across multiple countries. This has yet to be confirmed however as investigations are still ongoing into who is behind this attack and why they decided to return funds after initially rejecting any bounties offered by Euler Finance.
Community Reactions
The community has responded with mixed reactions since news broke out about this attack and subsequent return of funds – some praising their efforts while others remain suspicious about their motivations and intentions for doing so. Some are speculating if this could potentially set up a new trend in future DeFi attacks where hackers ‘return’ funds instead of running away with them or laundering them through other sources such as mixing services or darknet marketplaces..
Investigations Still Ongoing
Investigations into who is behind this attack and why they decided to return funds after initially rejecting any bounties offered by Euler Finance are still ongoing but it’s clear that crypto security remains an issue that needs further attention moving forward into 2021 if we want more users onboarded onto these platforms without fear of potential losses due to exploits like these occurring again in future times when protocols become even more complex than they already are today..