On June 13, an unidentified hacker minted one billion HLG tokens by exploiting vulnerabilities in the Holograph operator smart contract. The Holograph team has patched the initial exploit and is collaborating with exchange partners to freeze the affected accounts. A decentralized finance researcher suspects a rogue developer orchestrated the attack.
Holograph Compromised: HLG Value Plummets as Hacker Illegally Mints 1 Billion Tokens
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Holograph Contemplates Engaging Law Enforcement
Holograph, the tokenization platform backed by Animoca Brands, confirmed on June 13 that a malicious actor had exploited its operator contract, enabling them to mint one billion HLG tokens. However, Holograph stated that its team has since remedied the initial exploit and is now working with exchange partners to block the malicious accounts.
In a statement shared via the social media platform X, the Holograph team also revealed that an investigation into the incident is underway and that a report will soon be filed with law enforcement. For users potentially affected by the breach, the team said:
We are working with external networks to issue a reimbursement for affected victims during the process. Users can now claim a refund of 75% of their original deposited amount. [The] remaining amount will be subsequently issued.
While the statement does not speculate on the identity of the hacker, Matt Casto, a decentralized finance ( defi) trader and researcher, suggested that the attacker could be a rogue developer who funded the address receiving the billion HLG tokens. Casto added that the address had been funded 26 days before the attack.
According to a report, the suspected rogue developer exploited a smart contract weakness, enabling them to mint the tokens in nine transactions. Approximately four hours after the initial exploit, the hacker reportedly began converting the minted HLG tokens into the stablecoin USDT.
In the aftermath of the attack, the price of the HLG token, which was trading at approximately $0.0149 on the day of the attack, initially dropped to $0.00296. However, as Coingecko data indicates, the token’s value gradually recovered and was trading at about $0.00646 at the time of writing (June 14, 2024, at 1:30 p.m.).
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