Rocket Loses $287,000 in Attack Targeting Dormant Perpetual Market

Rocket has halted deposits, withdrawals, and trading following the exploit of an inactive perpetual market by the attacker, which led to the withdrawal of roughly $287,000 (roughly Rs. 2.7 crore) worth of positive PnL from the Bridge of Rocket. In a September 7 announcement on X, Rocket explained that the attack had taken place on September 5 at around 19:00 UTC, when the attacker had exploited an inactive perpetual market using a burner wallet. The attacker placed orders at very high prices and traded against themselves, creating artificial profits in one account while pushing the burner account into bankruptcy.

Rocket Works With Industry Partners to Trace Stolen Funds 

This profitable account went on to withdraw about $287,000 (roughly Rs. 2.7 crore) worth of funds from The Bridge, and the resultant loss was then to be socialised. Rather than describing a smart contract vulnerability, the initial narrative by Rocket concerning the attack was one of manipulating a dormant perpetual market. Through an expendable account, the hacker posted orders at bloated prices and went ahead to trade against himself.

According to Rocket, the transactions created “fake profits” for one account while the burner account took up the losses. The account that had the profits made a withdrawal of about $287,000 (roughly Rs. 2.7 crore) via the Bridge before the process ceased. Rocket has, however, halted all transactions, deposits, and withdrawals as the team investigates the matter. The project has neither given a timeframe for the resumption of these services nor disclosed how many users were exposed to the socialised loss.

Rocket mentioned that it was cooperating with cybersecurity firms and law enforcement authorities in order to examine the hack and get back the funds. The team is collaborating with cryptocurrency exchanges, cross-chain bridges, and stablecoin issuers in an effort to trace the lost money and freeze them. Rocket did not mention which companies or law enforcement organisations it has engaged in the investigation process. 

The number of crypto hacks witnessed a sharp increase in August, as per a blockchain security firm, PeckShield. On September 1, the security firm said it had detected 50 attacks in August. This is a 67 percent increase from the 30 cases reported in July. The estimated loss stood at $136.3 million (roughly Rs. 1,294 crore), which is a decrease of 49.5 percent from the $270 million (roughly Rs. 2,564 crore) lost in July.