Beluga’s Multichain AMM Hack on Arbitrum Results in $175K Loss

Beluga, a Multichain AMM protocol, recently fell victim to a malicious hacking attack that scooped about $175K in crypto a few hours ago.

This is just the latest hacks and cyber attacks that have been clouding the crypto space in 2023, stealing over a billion.

Beluga Protocol Attacked

As per the reports, this attack targeted the Beluga protocol deployed on the Arbitrum network. The news broke when security firm PeckShield reported the incident on X, mentioning that the attackers managed to steal the tokens in several exploits.

PeckShield’s first reports indicated that the attackers stole about 59 ETH from the Beluga protocol.

#PeckShieldAlert The @Belugadex exploiter has grabbed ~$175K worth of $ETH in total and transferred them (113 $ETH) into #MEXC pic.twitter.com/9PkNn4wmLM

— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) October 13, 2023

Subsequently, the perpetrator deposited 0.1 ETH into their wallet from the well-known cryptocurrency exchange OKX. Uncertainty arises regarding the hacker’s utilization of fraudulent identification to circumvent OKX’s Know Your Customer (KYC) verification process.

After the first attack, PeckShield reported more losses, as the attacker stole more to take their initial stolen amount to 108.9 ETH, worth around $168K.

However, moments later, PeckerShield reported that the ongoing exploit managed to garner an additional amount, bringing the total loot to about 113.3 ETH or approximately $175K.

After the long continuous exploit, the attackers’ wallet address 0x4843e is seen from blockchain data scans transferring the amounts to the MEXC crypto exchange network. The team behind the project has yet to comment on the incident.

However, the news of this attack caused a slight but sharp price decline earlier today, where the token dropped from $0.002797 to $0.002776, a 0.75% decline in merely minutes.

Attacks Surged in Crypto and DeFi

This recent case marks a recurrence of attacks on Beluga, as the team has encountered multiple sources of exploits this year alone. For instance, the Beluga team had to address a previous Over The Counter (OTC) scam incident earlier this year.

Certain community members accused them of manipulating liquidity, an allegation that they vehemently denied. They clarified that token dumping was undertaken to minimize the potential harm caused by the scammers.

Hack attacks have also been escalating within the crypto realm this year. For instance, between July and September, crypto projects lost $890 million in scams, cyber-attacks, and rug pulls.

In the year’s second quarter, Certik’s data indicated that about $313 million was stolen, a drop from the first quarter’s $320 million. As such, based on the data, the hack attacks surged by over 100% in Q3.