Uniswap Loses $25M+ to Hackers?

Decentralized Exchange (DEX) giant Uniswap has reportedly taken a severe hack assault and security compromise recently This compromise was revealed in a tweet by ON chain analyst Lookonchain.

The report claimed the compromise to be a “Sandwich Assault”, resulting in the theft of $25.2 million of assets from eight Uniswap pools. The pools contained assets as much as $13.4 million in WETH, $3 million in USDC, $1.8 million in USDT, and 1.7 million in DAI, which were stolen from said Uniswap pools. It was also reported that the stolen funds originated from Kucoin and were sent to eight different addresses.

8 addresses stole $25.2M assets from 8 #Uniswap pools by #Sandwich attacking.

Including:
– 7,461 $WETH ($13.4M)
– 5.3M $USDC
– 3M $USDT
– 65 $WBTC ($1.8M)
– 1.7M $DAI

And these 8 addresses are funded by @kucoincom. pic.twitter.com/T769G8TgbI

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) April 3, 2023

The “Sandwich attack” is becoming an increasingly rampant method of hacker assault. It consists of putting 2 transactions on the same block, which is intended to freeze the price of the asset being attacked. As a result, the malicious actor may carry out the second transaction at a cheaper rate and benefit from the spread.

While the details of the attack have yet to be revealed, It is possible that the perpetrators used flash loans to artificially inflate or deflate the value of the stolen assets. A flash loan is a short-term unsecured loan that requires repayment in the same transaction as the loan was taken out.

The event serves as a reminder of how dangerous it is, relying on decentralized exchanges and the need for rigorous security measures. Although Uniswap’s decentralized structure is a main attraction for cryptocurrency traders, the recent hack helps to be as a sobering reminder that no platform is completely secure.

While no official comment has yet been issued by KuCoin, the exchange is expected to to identify and punish those guilty. Until then, Uniswap customers should be on the lookout for any unusual activity in their accounts.