Hacker Spends $1K to Win Over $110K in EOS Betting Game Using REX

Published at: Sept. 14, 2019

A hacker spent $1,000 in EOS to steal more than $110,000 in cryptocurrency through an exploit of EOS gambling game EOSPlay.

Biggest DeFi service EOS REX used

An alleged bug in EOSPlay allowed the attacker to steal 30,000 EOS via using EOS REX, a major decentralized financial (DeFi) service enabling EOS lending in exchange for extra CPU on the EOS blockchain, crypto-focused publication CryptoSlate reports Sept. 14.

According to the report, the hacker used REX in order to ensure that blocks were filled with their transactions, allowing them to win continuously on EOSPlay. As previously reported, EOS REX is the biggest DeFi platform by a comfortable margin, having 331 million in EOS placed on the platform at press time, according to DeFi.Review website.

Citing crypto entrepreneur Jared Moore, the report says that the hacker had to spend approximately 300 EOS ($1,200 at press time) to set up the attack, which involved a number of subsequent transactions indicating consecutive wins on the EOS decentralized application (DApp).

Block.One CTO: EOS network not affected

Daniel Larimer, CTO at EOS developer company Block.One, tweeted that the hacking incident did not affect the EOS network, but rather caused a network overload resulting in a lack of extra bandwidth. He said:

“EOS is operating correctly. This is no different than when attackers flood eth or bitcoin with high fee transaction spam. The network didn’t freeze for token holders, there was just no extra bandwidth available for free use.”

FUD fails as EOS surges over 8%

Meanwhile, some users, including Moore himself, stated that the hack froze the EOS blockchain, claiming that the network was not usable for both DApps or wallets. Another EOS user reported on CPU issues, suggesting that the network was under attack. A user on Reddit pointed out that the network remained active despite the claims that the attack stopped the EOS blockchain for an hour, citing data from EOS block explorer Blocks.io.

Despite the apparent FUD, EOS has seen notable growth on the day. After hovering around $3.70 for some time, the altcoin has surged about 8.3% over the past 24 hours to trade above $4 at press time, according to data from Coin360. The coin is seeing the biggest gains out of top-20 coins by market capitalization at press time.

EOS 24-hour price chart. Source: Coin360

As recently reported, EOS is expected to have its first hard fork on Sept. 23.

Tags
Altcoin
Hackers
Gambling
Dapps
Eos
Related Posts
Report: Blockchain-related hacks have declined in 2020
The amount of cryptocurrency and blockchain-related hacks has been decreasing over the course of 2020, a new report claims. According to data analyzed by VPN provider Atlas VPN, the number of hacks in the first half of 2020 dropped more than three times compared to the same period in 2019. The data is part of a report released by Atlas VPN on Oct. 28. According to Atlas VPN, 2019 was a record-breaking year for blockchain hackers that exploited 94 successful attacks in the first half of the year, while in H1 2020 there were 31. Per the report, 2019 as …
Technology / Nov. 2, 2020
User Retention: The Holy Grail for DApps Moving Beyond Buzzword Status
Decentralized apps (DApp) continue to be a major focus point for developers in the crypto space. However, 2019 ended with DApps still far off from reaching their much-touted potential of being the “future of the internet.” DApp projects in 2019 continued to suffer from their usual issues like poor user retention and the difficulties of navigating user interfaces (UI), among others. While some projects boast market capitalizations north of $100 million, they fail to attract more than a handful of daily users. In the early weeks of 2020, some analytics firms dedicated to monitoring the DApp ecosystem have released reports …
Decentralization / Jan. 26, 2020
Report: Tron Has Fastest Growing DApp User Base, Ethereum Still Developers’ First Choice
A report released on April 9 by DApp (Decentralized Application) analytics website DApp.com reveals that Tron (TRX) has the fastest growing DApp user base while Ethereum’s (ETH) DApp user base is shrinking. On the Ethereum chain, there was a 4 percent decrease in the number of DApp users compared to last year. About 72,422 old users are still using Ethereum-based DApps in 2019. Decentralized Exchanges (DEXs) are responsible for more than half of the ETH DApp transaction volume, followed by gambling apps. Also, gamers were reportedly the most active ETH DApp users, with over 40 percent of the daily active …
Adoption / April 10, 2019
Five Critical Vulnerabilities Discovered in EOS in 2019, HackerOne Data Shows
EOS.io, the company responsible for the development of fourth-largest crypto by market cap EOS, has handed over bug bounties for five critical vulnerabilities this year. Public activity on breach disclosure platform HackerOne revealed the bounties. On Jan. 10, $40,750 was awarded to five white hat hackers on the platform by EOS.io, and the day after, another researcher received a $10,000 bounty. Five of those bounties are equivalent to $10,000 each, which is the highest possible payout reserved by the company only for the most critical vulnerabilities. The Tron Foundation, the company behind the cryptocurrency Tron, also awarded four bounties in …
Altcoin / Feb. 5, 2019
3 reasons why Telos (TLOS) price hit a new all-time high
It seems crypto winter is upon us and during times like these, projects that continue to forge ahead by focusing on development and expansion are often rewarded by traders who are looking to set up long positions where strong fundamentals trump the absence of short-term gains. One project that has weathered the storm in the crypto markets to establish a new all-time high is Telos (TLOS), a blockchain network created with the EOSIO software that aims to bring speed and scalability to smart contracts for decentralized finance (DeFi), nonfungible tokens (NFTs), gaming and social media. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro …
Adoption / Feb. 4, 2022