The decentralized cryptocurrency exchange Safemoon was the target of hackers who managed to steal $9 million worth of crypto assets from the protocol’s liquidity pool at the end of March.
However, the good news is that the attackers returned $7.2 million in two separate transactions in the early hours of April 20.
PeckShield, an analytics firm, reported that the hacker sent $3.4 million initially, followed by $3.8 million in cryptocurrency to the exchange wallet. Interestingly, Safemoon allowed the hacker to keep 20% of the stolen money.
Despite the returned funds, the price of Safemoon token did not show significant improvement.
CryptoSlate data revealed that the digital asset was down by 3.3% over the last 24 hours and was trading at $0.000000006711.
This incident highlights the vulnerabilities of decentralized finance systems and the need for continuous security upgrades to protect user assets.
PeckShield specialists noted that a recent update to the exchange introduced a public burn function that made it easier for hackers to exploit.
In a similar event, attackers hacked the DeFi Yearn.Finance protocol earlier this month and withdrew $11 million worth of crypto assets.
It is crucial for all decentralized exchanges and protocols to prioritize security to ensure the safety of their users and their assets.