SwirlLend, a DeFi lending platform, has been rugged on Base, as PeckShield reported. The project suffered a rug pull today that led to the total volume of its assets falling from $784,300 to $49,200. Shortly after the rug pull, the protocol’s official accounts on X, Telegram, GitHub, and Discord channel were deleted.
The deployment also bridged $289,500 in ether and USDC tokens to the Ethereum blockchain from Coinbase’s Base. The deployer also removed 32,600 USDC and 140.68 ETH while 92 ether is still held on the platform.
In an update, PeckShield noted that SwirlLend got rugged on Base and Linea. The deployer reportedly bridged 94 ETH from Linear to Ethereum through the Orbiter Finance bridge. The remaining balance amounts to 165.6 ETH and 32,641 USDC.
Base becomes the new hotspot for rug pulls and exploits
Base has generated attention due to its mainnet launch and subsequent implementation. The recent SwirlLend incident mirrors a similar situation involving the BALD meme coin, once valued at $85 million. The value of BALD collapsed almost entirely after an unidentified developer withdrew liquidity from the primary pool, even before the mainnet launch.
More recently, AzFlin, a developer associated with Uniswap and FrensTech deployment, was accused of rug-pulling 14 ETH, equivalent to $26,000, from the FrensTech project on the Base network. These actions allegedly occurred just four hours after the project’s launch. AzFlin countered these allegations, claiming that he had only withdrawn 1 ETH worth of liquidity that he had initially contributed to the project. Despite his explanation, AzFlin was subsequently removed from his role at Uniswap.
Meanwhile, RocketSwap Labs fell victim to a hacking incident resulting in the loss of $865,000 or 471 Ether. The attacker exploited a bridge from the network to Ethereum. Following the breach, the attacker generated massive “LoveRCKT” tokens, totaling 90 trillion in supply. These tokens were then transferred to Uniswap, along with 400 ETH. In response to the breach, the RocketSwap Labs team outlined their plan of action to redeploy a new farm contract, make it open-source on the blockchain, and relinquish the minting rights, presumably related to the RCKT token. Furthermore, the team indicated that they would call upon the hackers to return the assets taken.