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Each day noteworthy events continue to unfold in the cryptocurrency market. Recently, two brothers responsible for hacking the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Platypus and stealing $8.5 million were released by a French court without facing any charges. This decision has caused a significant stir within cryptocurrency communities.
Notable Details from the Hack Attack
On February 16th, black hat hackers carried out a flash loan attack on Platypus, stealing $8.5 million and forcing the suspension of the protocol’s trade services until a solution was found. Preliminary investigations identified Mohammed M. as the perpetrator who exploited a code error to seize all assets via an unsecured loan.
With the help of Binance‘s security team and independent crypto researchers, the stolen funds were traced back to the black hat hackers Mohammed and his brother Benamar M.
While the duo was held in custody indefinitely from February 24th, they admitted to the theft during a hearing on October 26th but claimed they were ethical hackers. They also discussed plans to return the funds in exchange for 10% of the assets they had seized.
Platypus Struggles with Hack Attempts
Considering the similarity to a bug bounty initiative, the hacker brothers were cleared of all charges. During the exploitation, crypto assets worth 7.8 million euros were stored in a wallet and then became inaccessible. While legal proceedings related to the hack continued, Platypus recently disclosed another loss of $2.2 million due to a separate flash loan exploit.
Research by blockchain security firm CertiK revealed that the attack conducted on October 12th was executed in three parts, withdrawing $2.23 million, $575,000, and $450,000 in various cryptocurrencies respectively. Following a settlement with the hacker on October 17th, Platypus managed to recover 90% of the stolen assets.
