Delta Prime was hacked for at least $6 million worth of digital currency, in the latest crypto-related cybersecurity incident.
The decentralized finance (DeFi) platform first suffered a loss of approximately $4.5 million, onchain security platform Cyvers, who wrote in a Sept. 16 X post:
“Suspicious address already swapped USDC to ETH! Total estimated loss is around $4.5M so far! however, a suspicious address is still draining the pools! Total loss might increase!”
Delta Prime hack. Source: Cyvers
However, another wave of malicious transactions has already taken the amount stolen from Delta Prima to nearly $6 million, noted Chaofan Shou, the co-founder of Fuzzland, in a Sept. 16 X post.
The incident comes nearly two months after a hacker stole over $230 million from WazirX, an Indian cryptocurrency exchange, in the second-largest cryptocurrency hack of 2024 so far.
Related: Top 100 DeFi Hacks: Offchain attack vectors account for 57% of losses
Loss of control of admin wallet led to theft
The amount of stolen funds from the attack is nearly $6 million, with more potential losses ahead.
The attack has likely stemmed from a private key exploit, according to Meir Dolev, the CTO of Cyvers.
The onchain security expert told Cointelegraph:
“Hackers took control of the wallet which is the admin of Delta Prime proxy contacts, later on, upgraded these contracts to point to his malicious contract this enabled the hacker to drain Delta Prime pools on the Arbitrum chain. Total loss is $5.9 million USD.”
Delta Prime hacker upgrade. Source: Cyvers
Related: Crypto hackers surpass $1.2 billion stolen in 2024: Immunefi
North Korean hackers could target Bitcoin ETFs next
North Korean hackers, including the infamous Lazarus Group, may begin targeting larger objectives, including United States-based Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Hackers could start shifting their attention to the US Bitcoin ETFs due to the sizable potential bounty, according to Michael Pearl, vice president of GTM strategy at onchain security company Cyvers.
Pearl told Cointelegraph in an exclusive interview:
“Only recently the FBI has issued a warning that North Korean hackers are going to try to infiltrate and steal money from ETFs. So, all those ETFs […] are storing the base Bitcoin somewhere. And you can be certain that somebody is already planning and thinking of how they're going to steal it.”
Cyvers’ Michael Pearl, interview with Cointelegraph’s Zoltan Vardai, clip 1. Source: Cointelegraph
Bitcoin ETFs could present an attractive target for hackers, considering that they hold a cumulative $53.4 billion worth of BTC in onchain holdings, according to Dune data.