DeFi Protocol Euler Finance Loses Over $177 Million in Hack, Marks 2023’s Biggest Cyber Ploy: Report

Euler Finance, a decentralised finance (DeFi) protocol that provides crypto lending services, was hacked on Monday, March 13. This hack attack is estimated to have drained at least $177.6 million (roughly Rs. 1,455 crore) from Euler Finance, as estimated by smart contract auditor BlockSec. Other blockchain research firms like Peckshield and Meta Seluth, on the other hand, estimate that the amount of the stolen funds could be as high as $195 million (roughly Rs. 1,603 crore). This incident marks the biggest crypto hack of 2023 so far.

The hacker(s), who remain unidentified, could presently have the stolen funds in ETH 96,833 making for $153 million (roughly Rs. 1,258 crore) in possession. The remaining amount is divided among Dai (DAI), Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), Staked Ether (sETH), and USD Coin (USDC) cryptocurrencies, BlockSEC said.

Founded in London, UK, the protocol allows its users to deposit their crypto holdings with it and earn interests. It was launched in 2020 by fintech entrepreneurs Michael Bentley, Doug Hoyte, and Jack Prior.

Soon after BlockSec security firms sounded an alert regarding this hack attack, Euler Finance posted an update on the situation.

For now, elaborate details on this attack are awaited.

Meta Seluth, the crypto analytic firm tracking the hack has claimed that the attacker may have exploited a multichain bridge to transfer the funds from the BNB Smart Chain (BSC) to Ethereum in the attack that was launched and executed on Monday.

Euler Finance, as of now, has not officially revealed how the hack may have taken place.

DeFi protocols, that offer anonymity and autonomy to user to control their funds, are built on blockchain networks and are not controlled by any bank, broker, or intermediary.

Hackers who target DeFi protocols often identify vulnerabilities in the open-source nature of the platform's code to gain unauthorised access and process their criminal objectives. 2022 witnessed a plethora of hack attacks on DeFi protocols.

Hackers managed to steal as much as $3.8 billion (nearly Rs. 31,100 crore) from the crypto-dominated DeFi sector last year, a recent report by Chainalysis had said.

This year, meanwhile, had so far been relatively quieter in terms of recording massive crypto hacks.

In January this year, a total of 24 crypto exploits were recorded by Peckshield. These exploits amounted to $8.8 million (roughly Rs. 72 crore), which is significantly lesser than $120 million (roughly Rs. 980 crore) worth of crypto being reported lost in January 2022.

Losses incurred dur to crypto exploits dropped by 93 percent in January 2023, as compared to the same month last year, PeckShield had said in its February report which, however, changed today.