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How a whitehat hacker helped recover $450 million – DL News

Digital Finance News Staff

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How a whitehat hacker helped recover $450 million – DL News
  • Whitehat hacker explains how he helps recover funds stolen in DeFi hacks.
  • Negotiation is often the most productive approach.
  • But some security researchers are critical of making deals with blackhat hackers.

When hackers strike, DeFi teams often feel helpless.

Many do not want to go to the police, and identifying those responsible is becoming increasingly difficult.

There are few options left, but there is one that offers hope: negotiation.

There’s just one problem: the developers behind DeFi protocols are notoriously bad at handling such issues.

“It’s just not a skill set that exists a lot in the cryptocurrency space,” said Ogle, a pseudonymous whitehat hacker. DL News in an interview.

“A lot of people in the cryptocurrency industry are 23 years old and haven’t really done much.”

Great believer

Ogle firmly believes that negotiating with blackhat hackers is a wise approach and perhaps the only one DeFi teams can take when their projects have been scammed.

To this end, he has helped recover over $450 million through more than 40 separate hacks and exploits.

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Cryptocurrencies lost to hacks and exploits are down from their 2022 peak.

His greatest success? Having helped secure the recovery of $240 million for Euler Finance in April 2023.

Ogle’s other negotiations include July 2023 Curve financing Liquidity Pool Hacks and the month of April 2023 Emotional tip.

“I’ve been through a lot and I’ve dealt with some very difficult people, some very big egos,” he said.

Negotiating with hackers is probably not an easy thing.

Chances are they won’t be interested in talking to representatives of the projects they just mined. And even if they do, it can often be a waste of time.

When the cryptocurrency exchange KyberSwap lost $48 million Following an exploit in December, the hacker responded to negotiations by demanding control of the protocol, its founding company and all of its assets, in exchange for the return of user funds.

Still, Ogle said negotiating is better than doing nothing, which is usually the harsh reality after a hack.

A losing position

When a DeFi protocol gets hacked, it’s all hands on deck.

Behind closed doors, teams of crypto security experts form online war rooms—places to share information, strategize, and figure out the best way to recover stolen assets.

“I tend to get drawn into these rooms from time to time,” Ogle said.

Hacked DeFi projects almost always start from a losing position, something hackers know very well.

Many projects don’t want to involve law enforcement in the investigation. They believe that authorities will probably never catch the culprit. They may not even have the resources to do so.

Another concern is the perception that law enforcement has a poor understanding of cryptocurrencies.

“There’s not much point in tracking down an address or a person if you’re not willing to involve law enforcement,” Ogle said.

Instead, most projects look for a way to get the hacker to return the funds as soon as they have made them, which is what Ogle specializes in.

A credible threat

Ogle’s journey into hack recovery began in 2021 with a little-known DeFi protocol called StableMagnet.

The creators of the protocol took advantage of a oddity on how code is stored on blockchains to steal $27 million from users.

But the creators of StableMagnet made mistakes. This allowed Ogle to follow them as they fled Hong Kong to Manchester, England.

After Ogle had taken all the necessary steps, he passed the information on to the local police who stopped authors.

Tracking hackers is difficult and time consuming. There is no guarantee of success.

But, Ogle said, he only had to track down the hackers once to show it was possible.

“We have an example of people actually being arrested, which didn’t exist at that time,” Ogle said.

In other words, StableMagnet’s arrests could be used as a threat.

“The threat was, ‘Hey, listen, I’m involved in this. I’ve had people arrested before. You should be scared. So if you’re scared, then let’s make a deal.’

The agreement

Hacking and programming have always been Ogle’s hobbies. But he also studied business in college and has started and sold tech companies in Silicon Valley and New York.

It’s the negotiation skills Ogle has honed over his professional career that he relies on most in the war room.

The deal Ogle is trying to make with the hackers is that they return 90% of the stolen funds and keep 10%. In exchange, Ogle and the other security researchers involved promise to stop any attempts to track down the hacker.

Some security researchers criticize such deals, saying that the principle of letting hackers walk away with 10% only encourages them.

Ogle sees things differently.

“When you’re dealing with ordinary people who have lost everything, none of them really care about the principle: they want their money back,” he said.

Detect hackers

Ogle’s negotiation skills were put to the test in April 2023, when he helped secure $240 million for DeFi lending protocol Euler Finance.

“They worked on it for a while, but they had some difficulties with the recovery part. So after a few weeks, they called me to help them,” he said.

Ogle’s tactic worked.

Euler’s hacker, who said DL News This is an Argentinian named Federico Jaime, who returned all the stolen funds, minus $2 million that he sent via Tornado Cash, and another $200,000 that he sent to North Korean hackers Lazarus Group.

“For hackers just starting out: don’t be stupid, don’t steal, do bounties, etc.,” Jaime said after returning the funds.

“You have to determine what type of person you’re dealing with,” Ogle said.

“If it’s an opportunistic thief who just picked up a wallet off the ground as he walked past, that’s different from someone planning a burglary, right?”

Tim Craig is a DeFi correspondent at DL News. Got a tip? Email him at tim@dlnews.com.

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We are the editorial team of Digital Finance News, where seriousness meets clarity in cryptocurrency analysis. With a robust team of finance and blockchain technology experts, we are dedicated to meticulously exploring complex crypto markets with detailed assessments and an unbiased approach. Our mission is to democratize access to knowledge of emerging financial technologies, ensuring they are understandable and accessible to all. In every article on Digital Finance News, we strive to provide content that not only educates, but also empowers our readers, facilitating their integration into the financial digital age.

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DeFi

Pump.Fun is revolutionizing the Ethereum blockchain in terms of daily revenue

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Pump.Fun is revolutionizing the Ethereum blockchain in terms of daily revenue

The memecoin launchpad saw the largest daily revenue in all of DeFi over the past 24 hours.

Memecoin launchpad Pump.Fun has recorded the highest gross revenue in all of decentralized finance (DeFi) in the last 24 hours, surpassing even Ethereum.

The platform has raised $867,429 in the past 24 hours, compared to $844,276 for Ethereum, according to DeFiLlama. Solana-based Telegram trading bot Trojan was the third-highest revenue generator of the day, as memecoin infrastructure continues to dominate in DeFi.

Pump.Fun generates $315 million in annualized revenue according to DeFiLlama, and has averaged $906,160 per day over the past week.

Income Ranking – Source: DeFiLlama

The memecoin frenzy of the past few months is behind Pump.fun’s dominance. Solana-based memecoins have been the main drug of choice for on-chain degenerates.

The app allows non-technical users to launch their own tokens in minutes. Users can spend as little as $2 to launch their token and are not required to provide liquidity up front. Pump.Fun allows new tokens to trade along a bonding curve until they reach a set market cap of around $75,000, after which the bonding curve will then be burned on Raydium to create a safe liquidity pool.

Pump.Fun generates revenue through accrued fees. The platform charges a 1% fee on transactions that take place on the platform. Once a token is bonded and burned on Raydium, Pump.fun is no longer able to charge the 1% fee.

Ethereum is the blockchain of the second-largest cryptocurrency, Ether, with a market cap of $395 billion. It powers hundreds of applications and thousands of digital assets, and backs over $60 billion in value in smart contracts.

Ethereum generates revenue when users pay fees, called gas and denominated in ETH, to execute transactions and smart contracts.

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DeFi

DeFi technologies will improve trading desk with zero-knowledge proofs

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DeFi Technologies to enhance trading desk with zero-knowledge proofs

DeFi Technologies, a Canadian company financial technology companyis set to enhance its trading infrastructure through a new partnership with Zero Computing, according to a July 30 statement shared with CryptoSlate.

The collaboration aims to integrate zero-knowledge proof tools to boost operations on the Solana And Ethereum blockchains by optimizing its ability to identify and execute arbitrage opportunities.

Additionally, it will improve the performance of its DeFi Alpha trading desk by enhancing its use of ZK-enabled maximum extractable value (MEV Strategies).

Zero knowledge Proof of concept (ZKP) technology provides an additional layer of encryption to ensure transaction confidentiality and has recently been widely adopted in cryptographic applications.

Optimization of trading strategies

DeFi Technologies plans to use these tools to refine DeFi Alpha’s ability to spot low-risk arbitrage opportunities. The trading desk has already generated nearly $100 million in revenue this year, and this new partnership is expected to further enhance its algorithmic strategies and market analysis capabilities.

Zero Computing technology will integrate ZKP’s advanced features into DeFi Alpha’s infrastructure. This upgrade will streamline trading processes, improve transaction privacy, and increase operational efficiency.

According to DeFi Technologies, these improvements will increase the security and sophistication of DeFi Alpha’s trading strategies.

The collaboration will also advance commercial approaches for ZK-enabled MEVs, a new concept in Motor vehicles which focuses on maximizing value through transaction fees and arbitrage opportunities within block production.

Additionally, DeFi Technologies plans to leverage Zero Computing technology to develop new financial products, such as zero-knowledge index exchange-traded products (ETPs).

Olivier Roussy Newton, CEO of DeFi Technologies, said:

“By integrating their cutting-edge zero-knowledge technology, we not only improve the efficiency and privacy of our transactions, but we also pave the way for innovative trading strategies.”

Extending Verifiable Computing to Solana

According to the release, Zero Computing has created a versatile, chain-agnostic platform for generating zero-knowledge proofs. The platform currently supports Ethereum and Solana, and the company plans to expand compatibility with other blockchains in the future.

The company added that it is at the forefront of introducing verifiable computation to the Solana blockchain, enabling complex computations to be executed off-chain with on-chain verification. This development represents a significant step in the expansion of ZKPs across various blockchain ecosystems.

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DeFi

Elastos’ BeL2 Secures Starknet Grant to Advance Native Bitcoin Lending and DeFi Solutions

Digital Finance News Staff

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© Reuters Elastos’ BeL2 Secures Starknet Grant to Advance Native Bitcoin Lending and DeFi Solutions

Singapore, Asia, July 29, 2024, Chainwire

  • Elastos BeL2 to Partner with StarkWare to Integrate Starknet’s ZKPs and Cairo Programming Language with BeL2 for Native DeFi Applications
  • Starknet integration allows BeL2 to provide smart contracts and dapps without moving Bitcoin assets off the mainnet
  • Starknet Exchange Validates the Strength of BeL2’s Innovation and Leadership in the Native Bitcoin Ecosystem

Elastos BeL2 (Bitcoin Elastos Layer2) has secured a $25,000 grant from Starknet, a technology leader in the field of zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs). This significant approval highlights the Elastos BeL2 infrastructure and its critical role in advancing Bitcoin-native DeFi, particularly Bitcoin-native lending. By integrating Starknet’s ZKPs and the Cairo programming language, Elastos’ BeL2 will enhance its ability to deliver smart contracts and decentralized applications (dapps) without moving Bitcoin (BTC) assets off the mainnet. This strategic partnership with Starknet demonstrates the growing acceptance and maturity of the BeL2 infrastructure, reinforcing Elastos’ commitment to market leadership in the evolving Bitcoin DeFi market.

Starknet, developed by StarkWare, is known for its advancements in ZKP technology, which improves the privacy and security of blockchain transactions. ZKPs allow one party to prove to another that a statement is true without revealing any information beyond the validity of the statement itself. This technology is fundamental to the evolution of blockchain networks, which will improve BeL2’s ability to integrate complex smart contracts while preserving the integrity and security of Bitcoin.

“We are thrilled to receive this grant from Starknet and announce our partnership to build tighter integrations with its ZKP technology and the Cairo programming language,” said Sasha Mitchell, Head of Bitcoin Layer 2 at Elastos. “This is a major milestone for BeL2 and a true recognition of the maturity and capabilities of our core technology. This support will allow us to further develop our innovation in native Bitcoin lending as we look to capitalize on the growing acceptance of Bitcoin as a viable alternative financial system.”

A closer integration with Cairo will allow BeL2 to leverage this powerful programming language to enhance Bitcoin’s capabilities and deliver secure, efficient, and scalable decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. Specifically, the relationship with Cairo reinforces BeL2’s core technical innovations, including:

  • ZKPs ensure secure and private verification of transactions
  • Decentralized Arbitrage Using Collateralized Nodes to Supervise and Enforce Fairness in Native Bitcoin DeFi
  • BTC Oracle (NYSE:) facilitates cross-chain interactions where information, not assets, is exchanged while Bitcoin remains on the main infrastructure

BeL2’s vision goes beyond technical innovation and aims to innovate by creating a new financial system. The goal is to build a Bitcoin-backed Bretton Woods system, address global debt crises, and strengthen Bitcoin’s role as a global hard currency. This new system will be anchored in the integrity and security of Bitcoin, providing a stable foundation for decentralized financial applications.

As integration with Starknet and the Cairo programming language continues, BeL2 will deliver further advancements in smart contract capabilities, decentralized arbitration, and innovative financial products. At Token 2049, BeL2 will showcase further innovations in its core technologies, including arbitrators, that will underscore Elastos’ vision for a fairer decentralized financial system rooted in Bitcoin.

About Elastos

Elastos is a public blockchain project that integrates blockchain technology with a suite of redesigned platform components to produce a modern Internet infrastructure that provides intrinsic privacy and ownership protection for digital assets. The mission is to create open source services that are accessible to the world, so developers can create an Internet where individuals own and control their data.

The Elastos SmartWeb platform enables organizations to recalibrate how the Internet operates to better control their own data.

Home

https://www.linkedin.com/company/elastosinfo/

ContactPublic Relations ManagerRoger DarashahElastosroger.darashah@elastoselavation.org

This article was originally published on Chainwire



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DeFi

Compound Agrees to Distribute 30% of Reserves to COMP Shareholders to End Alleged Attack on Its Governance

Digital Finance News Staff

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Compound Agrees to Distribute 30% of Reserves to COMP Shareholders to End Alleged Attack on Its Governance

Compound will introduce the staking program in exchange for Humpy, a notorious whale accused of launching a governance attack on the protocol, negating a recently adopted governance proposal.

Compound is launching a new staking program for COMP holders as a compromise with Humpy, a notorious DeFi whale accused of launching a governance attack against the veteran DeFi protocol.

On July 29, Bryan Colligan, head of business development at Compound, published a governance proposal outlining plans for a new compound participation product that would pay 30% of the project’s current and future reserves to COMP participants.

Colligan noted that the program was requested by Humpy in exchange for his agreement Proposition 289 — which sought to invest 499,000 COMP worth approximately $24 million into a DeFi vault controlled by Humpy, and which appears to have been forced by Humpy and his associates over the weekend.

“We propose the following staking product that meets Humpy’s stated interests as a recent new delegate and holder of COMP in exchange for the repeal of Proposition 289 due to the governance risks it poses to the protocol,” Colligan said. “The Compound Growth Program…will execute the above commitments, given the immediate repeal of Proposition 289.”

Colligan added that the proposal would expire at 11:59 p.m. EST on July 29. Had Humpy not rescinded Proposition 289, Compound would move forward with it. Proposition 290 — block Humpy using the Compound team’s multi-sig to deploy a new governor contract removing the delegate’s governance power behind Proposition 289.

Hunchback tweeted that Proposition 289 had been repealed a few hours ago. “Glad to have brought Compound Finance back into the spotlight,” they said. added. “StakedComp… finally becomes a yield-generating asset!

Markets reacted favorably to the resolution, with the price of COMP increasing by 6.2% over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko.

Attack on governance

Proposition 289 proposed investing 499,000 COMP from the Compound treasury into goldCOMP, a yield-generating vault of the Humpy-linked Golden Boys team.

The proposal passed with nearly 52 percent of the vote on July 28, despite two previous iterations of the proposal being defeated by strong opposition. Can And JulyThe proposals notably asked for only 92,000 COMP, with security researchers warning that any deposit of tokens into the goldCOMP vault would cede their governance power.

In May, Michael Lewellen of Web3 security firm OpenZeppelin, note The first proposal was submitted by a new governance delegate who was suddenly awarded 228,000 COMP by five wallets that got their tokens from the Bybit exchange. Combined with his own tokens, the delegate got 325,333 COMP, which is over 81% of the 400,000 tokens required for a governance proposal to reach quorum.

“We have been alerting the community to the risk that these delegates could support a potential attack on governance,” Lewellen said. “The timing of the new proposal and these recent delegations are suspect.”

Read more: Compound community accuses famous whale of attacking engineering governance

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