Coinspeaker
Fantom-based Equalizer DEX Reports System Attack Leading to Loss of Users’ Funds
Equalizer DEX (EQUAL) price slipped more than 10 percent in the last 24 hours to trade around $8.77 on Tuesday after on-chain sleuths reported a network attack. The Fantom (FTM)-based decentralized exchange, with more than $14.72 million in total value locked (TVL), has urged its customers to refrain from using its cross-chain bridge. equalizer, equity analytics, beta sites, and v4 sites. Instead, Equalizer informed its customers only to use the provided mirror sites until the investigations were completed.
“If connecting to the dapp via Connect Wallet and it asks you to Approve something, immediately Stop using that site. If the dapp asks you to interact with a contract you have never interacted with earlier, Stop using that site. If it asks you to approve any contract that is unknown or not in our docs, Stop using that site,” the Equalizer team informed its clients.
As of this writing, it was not entirely clear the magnitude of the Equalizer hack as the core team was still compiling the attack. Moreover, Equalizer attackers were still sending scamming links to impacted clients with a promise of a quick refund.
Meanwhile, the Equalizer team has provided its customers with several mirror sites to help them access the services.
Don't use https://t.co/HpuDvYx5Sg for now.
Please use these alternative Mirrors till thenhttps://t.co/4JEaLpOvu8 (Equalizer on Fantom)https://t.co/bvqpuk6VDu (Equalizer on Base)https://t.co/5ivVCX3M5e (Equity)https://t.co/hmELsa9X7L (CL Farms on Base & Fantom)
Please…
— Equalizer (@Equalizer0x) May 14, 2024
Direct Impact of the Equalizer Attack on Fantom Network
Fantom (FTM) network is one of the fastest growing layer one (L1) chains with more than $572 million in bridged total value locked (TVL) and over $354 million in stablecoins market cap. Equalizer DEX is among the top DeFis on the Fantom network with a total value locked of about $13 million.
According to on-chain data, the Equalizer attacker has so far drained more than 2,300 EQUAL tokens, worth over $20k. The attacker’s wallet also had 510k FantomStarter (FS), 2,500 spLP, 6 million AnyInu (AI), 985k ChillPill (CHILL), 50k WigoSwap (WIGO), and 25 multiDEUS.
Consequently, FTM price dropped nearly 6 percent in the last 24 hours to trade around 65 cents on Tuesday, during the early New York session.
Bigger Picture
The attack on Equalizer DEX comes amid heightened regulatory scrutiny on web3 projects and digital assets. On Tuesday, a Dutch court convicted Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev for aiding in the money laundering of $2.2 billion via the crypto mixer.
As more institutional investors and retail traders enter the cryptocurrency industry, more regulations are expected to roll out to protect customers. Moreover, web3 developers need to be held accountable for building poor designs that give attackers easy access to customers’ funds.
For instance, the North Korea-based hacking group Lazarus has been using sophisticated tools to compromise web3 projects and siphon billions of dollars annually.
Fantom-based Equalizer DEX Reports System Attack Leading to Loss of Users’ Funds
