Hackers may have successfully made away with $22 million from a UK-based crypto exchange Lykke. Recent events on the exchange and investigations by crypto experts suggest malicious actors have carried out major security breaches, resulting in the massive loss of funds.
Security Breach Discovery and Lykke’s ‘Silence’
Notably, the exchange halted trading and announced a shutdown on June 6, citing “unauthorized access” to its platform. SomaXBT, a web researcher on X first blew the whistle on the hack, noting that it occurred two days prior to the shutdown.
on June 4, @lykke CTX got exploited and lost $19.5 million worth crypto assets but team still trying to hide this fact
BTC (158 btc)
bc1qt64756h9aylujm9tpk826zndegpxtngmr6eqad
ETH (2161 eth)
0x9172a72f5009ca609833819763A2722e53806443 pic.twitter.com/bT4TaQLukY
— SomaXBT (@somaxbt) June 9, 2024
Meanwhile, according to Taylor Monahan, a developer at MetaMask and a crypto security expert, the suspicious outflows totaled $22 million by his estimation. This is unlike the attack that El Salvador’s Bitcoin Chivo Wallet suffered in April of this year with no defined monetary losses.
As per data from Etherscan, half of the stolen funds were in Bitcoin, while the remainder included Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash. The stolen Ethereum was swiftly converted into the DAI stablecoin issued by MakerDAO. The siphoned Bitcoin was dispersed across multiple wallets. This is a tactic often used by hackers to muddle the transaction trail during the laundering process.
Surprisingly, Lykke has largely remained silent about the breach and has not addressed it directly. The platform has not also confirmed or denied it. However, on June 6, CEO Richard Olsen issued an apology for the downtime in an email to customers.
“We are still investigating the causes of this security incident,” Olsen stated. “In the meantime, you can rest assured that your funds are safe. Lykke is a diversified business with strong capital reserves.”
What Next for Lykke Users?
In the past month, Lykke recorded $2.5 million in trading volume. However, at the moment, users cannot withdraw their assets from the platform. Some users are reporting their account balances wiped out, indicating a potential hack.
In the interim, Lyke’s website has a maintenance message on display, indicating the platform might remain inactive until further notice.
The malicious attack on Lykke is coming just one month after crypto security firm CertiK observed that crypto-related losses from hacks and scams plummeted to a record low in April 2024.
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