Beanstalk, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol based on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain, was hacked to the tune of $78 million. According to one of the project’s founders, those affected may never see their funds again.
Beanstalk is robbed of $78 million
Beanstalk (BEAN), a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol built on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain, was stolen the equivalent of around $78 million in a hack earlier today .
According to a report by blockchain security firm PeckShield , the hack was made possible following a flash loan allowing the hacker to purchase governance tokens in order to issue the BIP18 contract , an action that requires more than 67 % of votes in normal times . It is this contract which contained the pernicious code and which would have allowed the hacker to withdraw the funds concerned.
Once the assets were stolen, the hacker was thus able to repay his flash loan and transform all the remaining assets into Ethers, which represented around 78 million dollars at the time of the events. Note that at the same time, he made a donation of $250,000 to a support organization for Ukraine .
Fig. 1: Diagram of the Beanstalk protocol hack
The hacker then sent the 78 million dollars of Ether stolen from the Tornado Cash mixer in order to erase his tracks, a fairly standard method during hacks which unfortunately take place in the middle of decentralized finance.
According to several organizations specializing in blockchain security, the total loss of the protocol could amount to around $182 million. As the hack took place today, we can expect more information in the days to come.
Note that following the hack, the BEAN token, which is a stablecoin, suddenly deviated from its normal value of 1 dollar .
Fig. 2: BEAN token price
Publius , one of Beanstalk’s maintainers, said on the protocol’s Discord server that users would likely never see their funds again :
“Honestly, I don’t know what to say. We are screwed up. This project does not receive any financial support, so it is very unlikely that there will be any bailout. »
This hack is the 10th largest in decentralized finance history , narrowly surpassing the $77.7 million Ascendex hack last December .
