Ethereum-based layer two scaling network Polygon has quietly fixed a vulnerability that put almost $24 billion worth of its native token MATIC at risk. According to a Dec. 29 blog post from Polygon, the “critical” vulnerability in the network’s Proof-of-Stake (PoS) Genesis contract was first highlighted by two whitehat hackers on Dec. 3 and Dec. 4 via blockchain security and bug bounty hosting platform Immunefi. All you need to know about the recent Polygon network update. ✅A security partner discovered a vulnerability ✅Fix was immediately introduced ✅Validators upgraded the network ✅No material harm to the protocol/end-users ✅White hats were paid …

This year has been monumental for the cryptocurrency sector in terms of mainstream adoption. A recent report published by Grayscale Investments found that more than one-quarter of United States investors (26%) surveyed own Bitcoin (BTC), up from 23% in 2020. With the holidays around the corner, financial services provider MagnifyMoney also found that nearly two-thirds of surveyed Americans hope to receive cryptocurrency as a gift this year. While crypto’s growth is notable, there has also been an increase in the number of scams associated with digital assets. A Chainalysis blog post highlighting the company’s “2022 Crypto Crime Report” revealed that …

On Tuesday, Solana nonfungible token (NFT) project Monkey Kingdom, which has received notable backing from American DJ Steve Aoki, announced via Twitter that hackers made off with $1.3 million of the community's crypto funds through a security breach on Discord. According to its developers, the hack first occurred with the breach of Grape, a popular solution for verifying users on Solana. Hackers then used the exploit to take over an administrative account, which posted a phishing link in the Monkey Kingdom Discord's announcement channel. Users who followed the link connected their wallets expecting they would receive an NFT but instead …

Staking and farming platform Bent Finance joins the list to become the sixth crypto establishment to get hacked in December. The acknowledgment of the attack was followed by requesting investors to withdraw their pool funds and disabling the reward claims on the compromised platform. Bent Finance first realized the exploit on Monday at roughly 8:55 PM EST, a timeline when the company reported no loss of funds. However, the community suspected a rug-pull event when blockchain investigator PeckShield allegedly located the source of the hack transactions. We have located the hack tx, which interestingly is sent from the Bent Finance: …

The decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Grim Finance reported $30 million in losses due to a reentrancy exploit of the platform’s deposits. Grim Finance officially announced on Dec. 18 that an “external attacker” had exploited the DeFi platform, stealing “over $30 million” worth of cryptocurrencies. According to Grim Finance, the hack was an “advanced attack,” with the attacker exploiting the protocol’s vault contract through five reentrancy loops, which allowed them to fake five additional deposits into a vault while the platform is processing the first deposit. Grim paused all vaults after the attack to minimize the risk for future funds: “We …

There is always going to be risks involved with interacting with cryptocurrencies and recent proof of this can be seen over the past few weeks after savvy hackers managed to abscond with millions of dollars worth of tokens from Bitmart, AscendEX and BadgerDAO exchange. Nexus Mutual is a decentralized platform that allows investors to secure insurance coverage against smart contract exploits and today the altcoin rallied by 38% even as Bitcoin and the wider crypto market continue to correct. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that after hitting a low of $46.59 on Dec. 13, the price of …

Crypto trading platform AscendEX suffered a loss of $77.7 million in a hot wallet compromise that allowed hackers to access and transfer tokens hosted over the Ethereum (ETH), Binance Smart Chain (BSC) and Polygon (POLY) blockchains. Soon after realization, AscendEX proactively warned its users about the stolen funds, confirming that the hackers were not able to access the company’s cold wallet reserves. 22:00 UTC 12/11, We have detected a number of ERC-20, BSC, and Polygon tokens transferred from our hot wallet. Cold Wallet is NOT affected. Investigation underway. If any user’s funds are affected by the incident, they will be …

The official Twitter account of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi got compromised earlier today, which was then used to share misleading information about the mainstream adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) and redistribution of 500 BTC among the Indian citizens. On Dec. 10, Modi said in a virtual event virtual summit hosted by US President Joe Biden that technologies such as cryptocurrencies should be used to empower democracy and not undermine it: “By working together, democracies can meet the aspirations of our citizens and celebrate the democratic spirit of humanity.” While the long-awaited Lok Sabha Winter Session, a parliamentary meetup intended to …

Following a near $200 million hack on the BitMart exchange, the Shiba Inu (SHIB) community and crypto exchange Huobi Global aim to help the exchange strengthen security and track inflows of stolen assets. On Dec. 5, crypto exchange BitMart became victim to a hot wallet compromise hosted over the Ethereum (ETH) and Binance Smart Chain (BSC) blockchains. As a result, the hackers were able to steal over $196 million, roughly $100 million over the Ethernet network and around $96 million over the BSC blockchain. 1/3 We have identified a large-scale security breach related to one of our ETH hot wallets …

The $200 million Bitmart hack was first revealed by Peckshield, a blockchain security and data analytics company, who initially identified a transfer of roughly $100 million over the Ethereum blockchain. Further investigation from the team revealed a concurrent hack of $96 million over the crypto exchange’s BSC reserves: Crypto exchange Bitmart lost nearly $200 million in a hot wallet compromise hosted over the Ethereum (ETH) and Binance Smart Chain (BSC) blockchains. Total estimated loss: ~200M (~100M on @ethereum and ~96M on @BinanceChain ). (Previously we only counted the loss on @ethereum). And here is the list of affected assets/amounts on …

Welcome to the latest edition of Cointelegraph’s decentralized finance newsletter. A week packed with positive advancements in the DeFi space including nine-figure fund raises, successful product launches and soaring token prices was somewhat tarnished by the news of two severe security exploits. Read on to get the full scope of developments across the week. What you’re about to read is the smaller version of this newsletter designed for brevity. For the full version of DeFi’s developments over the last week, drop your email below. Borderless Capital launches $500M fund to support Algorand ecosystem Capital venture firm Borderless Capital announced the …

Cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius has reportedly lost over $50 million in the exploit of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol BadgerDAO. As reported by Cointelegraph on Dec. 2, the attack targeted the protocol on the Ethereum network, reaping an unconfirmed $120 million in assets. According to one Redditor, the biggest alleged victim of the hack was an address that lost 896 Wrapped Bitcoin ($51 million). The address is supposed to be owned by Celsius “since it has interacted with other addresses known to be owned by them.” The address regularly transacts with an address that has a $67 million balance, $40 million …