The post Coincidence or Conspiracy? The Overlapping Timelines of WazirX Hack and Shardeum’s Launch appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News
As an irony of fate would have it, the founder of WazirX which was recently targeted by hackers for misuse of customers’ cryptocurrency is himself heading a massive bug bounty for another firm he is associated with.
Roughly at the same time when $230M was stolen at WazirX, Shetty launched a $1M bug bounty for Shardeum, a project he co-founded raising questions if Wazirx was hacked by an insider to provide liquidity for the shardeum token launch.
The WazirX Hack: a record $230 million stolen
The popular cryptocurrency exchange wazirx
Centralised ExchangeCrypto trading and Information
was hacked on 7 August 2024 and the criminals made away with $230 million. The attack targeted the weaknesses within the infrastructure of the exchange and the situation has put a lot of question marks on the security measures adopted inside the exchange.
The $1 million bug bounty for Shardeum
The fact, which seems to underline some turning point, is that at the time of the WazirX hack, one of Shetty’s other projects, Shardeum, has put up a $1m bug bounty. This move is a part of concrete preparations for Shardeum’s initial token sale, which is to attract a lot of liquidity. In terms of coordination, the timing of the bounty coinciding with the WazirX hack begs some scrutiny.
The bug bounty program is designed before Shardeum’s platform is live to amplify the network’s security. The huge amount indicates its resolve to ensure that the new token for the project is well secured plus investor confidence.
Echoes of Wintermute: Is this a pattern for Crypto security?
as the blockchain forensic analyst, boring sleuth pointed out, this scenario can be compared to Wintermute – a crypto trading firm that was hacked for 160 million, but not long after that, announced an unanticipated DEX and a new token. It appears that in the crypto industry, large-scale hacks are followed by major projects – hack-cancer or hack-growth, as one might say.
The fact that breaches happened consecutively and at the same time as the start of a new project indicates that there is a problem in the cryptocurrency sector in general and raises the question of the possibility of an inside job. This kind of happenings that are not accountable or transparent create doubt and stress the calls for enhanced and effective regulation and security measures.
Also Check Out: Weekly Crypto Hack Report: Largest Incidents and Financial Losses