Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao revealed on December 2 that the exchange froze approximately $3 million of Ankr's hacked funds.
Hacker exploits Ankr Protocols code
A hacker used a bug in the Ankr Protocol's code to create six quadrillions of aBNBc tokens, some of which were converted into $5 million USDC.
Peckshield, a blockchain security firm, discovered an unlimited mint bug in the aBNBc token contract, allowing for the arbitrary minting of tokens.
Beosin, another blockchain security firm, tweeted that the attack was most likely the result of a private key compromise because the deployer changed the implementation contract address prior to the attack. The attacker then invoked the mintApprovedTo function, allowing anyone to mint tokens.
Attacker nets $5 million
According to Lookonchain, the exploiter minted 20 trillion tokens and dumped them on Pancakeswap.
According to PeckShield, the exploiter bridged the stolen funds to Ethereum using celer and deBridgeGate, as well as transferring some of these funds using Tornado Cash. According to the company, the exploiter transferred 900 BNB ($253,000) to Tornado Cash and bridged 3000 ETH and $500,000 USDC to Ethereum.
Ankr confirms exploit
Ankr confirmed on December 2 that its aBNB token had been compromised.
The decentralized web3 infrastructure provider says it is in contact with exchanges to halt trading. “All underlying assets on Ankr Staking are safe at this time, and all infrastructure services are unaffected,” the firm added.
It also urged all liquidity providers to withdraw their liquidity from DEXs, promising that the tokens would be reissued soon.
Crypto traders profit
According to PeckShield, a crypto trader profited from the hack by using 10 BNB to make $15 million.
According to Wu Blockchain, the trader exchanged 10 BNB for 183,384.92 aBNBc. He then transferred his aBNBc holding to hBNB and staked it on the Helio protocol to lend $16 million BHAYO, which was then converted to HAY.
The HAY Stablecoin was depegged as a result of the transaction. The stablecoin has lost 33% of its value as of press time and is currently trading for $0.69.
Meanwhile, the Helio Protocol team stated that they were aware of the exploit and would provide more information as soon as possible.
Lookonchain reported separately that a trader who shorted Ankr's protocol native token made a 53.25% profit.
aBNBc, ANKR, BNB price falls
ANKR is down 4% in the last 24 hours to $0.02155, while BNB is down 3% to $289 as of press time.
Meanwhile, according to CoinMarketCap data, aBNBc had fallen 99.51% to $1.51 as of press time.
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