The Meerkat Finance decentralized finance project on the Binance Smart Chain blockchain reported the theft of $ 31 million worth of crypto assets. There are suspicions that the organizers of the project could have stolen them.
The startup closed just a day after launch. The Meerkat Finance team reported in Telegram that a hacker attack was carried out on the vault, during which about 13 million BUSD and 73,000 BNB were stolen for a total of $ 31 million. Then the tokens were moved to several addresses. According to BscScan, an observer of the Binance Smart Chain blockchain, the hacker changed the elements of the Meerkat smart contract, which determines the operation of the project’s repository. This was done through the Meerkat developer account who launched this smart contract.
It turns out that either the attackers were able to get hold of his private key, or the creators of the project did it themselves. Following the incident, the platform’s website was shut down and Meerkat Finance’s Twitter account was deleted. This suggests that the second option is closer to the truth. Binance cryptocurrency exchange specialists have confirmed that they have noticed excessive activity on the Meerkat Finance service. The audit firms Certik, PeckShield and Slowmist were involved in the investigation.
Users have previously become victims of yet another scam project, DeFi Wine Swap, launched on Binance Smart Chain. But then the amount of the stolen assets turned out to be much less than this time – about $ 345,000. When Binance identified the hacker, he agreed to return the stolen funds. However, such investigations require significant material resources, so it is not always possible to predict whether the search will be successful.
As a reminder, the Binance Smart Chain mainnet was launched on September 1, 2020. The network attracts developers with the ability to create DeFi applications without slowing transaction speed and increasing fees.
