REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo
Hackers on Monday stole almost $200 million (R3.6 billion) from a British company that specialises in lending to crypto projects, a security firm said, in the biggest such attack for months.
The security firm PeckShield pointed out the apparent hack to British lender Euler on Twitter, posting details of transactions it said showed losses of $197 million.
The China-based firm wrote a message to British lender Euler on Twitter saying: “Hi @eulerfinance: you may want to take a look”.
PeckShield said the flurry of transactions by hackers seem to have exploited a flaw in Euler’s system.
Euler said it was “aware” and “currently working with security professionals and law enforcement.”
“We will release further information as soon as we have it,” the lender said on Twitter.
The hack on Euler is the most substantial this year, according to crypto critic Molly White, who chronicles hacks and scams on her blog Web3 is Going Just Great.
White ranked the incident at number eight on the all-time list of biggest thefts — though it is dwarfed by the crypto sector’s biggest scams, some of which have run into billions of dollars.
The industry was flying high early last year, with the market in cryptocurrencies and digital tokens apparently worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Crypto companies were taking out TV adverts, sponsoring sports teams and touting their technology as world-changing as they sought new investors among the general public.
But the sector has been shredded by a severe economic downturn, rampant criminality, crackdowns from regulators and the collapse of high-profile companies.
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