Leading decentralized cryptocurrency exchange dYdX (DYDX) has published a Z report on the targeted hack attack in November 2023, which led to the loss of approximately $9 million, corresponding to about 40% of the insurance fund. The report indicated that the identity of the hacker has been determined and legal options are being explored.
Z Report on the $9 Million Hack Attack
In its announcement regarding the hack attack, dYdX stated, “The investigation has identified the hacker and we are in contact with them,” emphasizing that legal options against the hacker are being examined.
The platform reported that the hacker opened a high amount of 5x leveraged long positions in the YFI/USD trading pair through more than 100 wallet addresses. YFI is the native asset of the DeFi protocol Yearn Finance. According to dYdX, the hacker used different wallet addresses to purchase YFI tokens on the spot market, causing the altcoin’s price to rise by 215%. The decentralized crypto exchange added that the hacker’s unrealized profit reached up to $50 million by adding to the YFI/USD position.
In response to this situation, on November 17, 2023, dYdX increased the initial margin requirement for the YFI/USD market as a precaution and reduced the base position and the increasing position size to block the hacker’s transactions. The next day, the price of YFI dropped by approximately 30% within an hour, and the hacker was unable to close their positions. dYdX highlighted that the losses from the insurance fund were automatically compensated due to the hacker’s positions falling into the negative territory.
The platform also noted that a week before the YFI incident, the hacker targeted the SUSHI/USD using the same strategy and made a profit of about $5 million. However, this did not affect the v3 insurance fund because dYdX increased the initial margin requirement to 100%, preventing the attacker from making further gains. dYdX emphasized that customer funds were not affected by the attacks and claimed that despite the hacker’s manipulation of the YFI market, they were unable to make a profit.
Several Measures Taken on dYdX V4 Platform
Furthermore, dYdX reported that it updated its v3 trading platform with better open interest monitoring and alerts to prevent more attacks using similar strategies.
The platform added that the upgraded v4 chain was already designed to prevent such risks. The upgrade chain comes with a new software feature that automatically adjusts the initial margin rate in case of abnormal price movements.
