Hacker fails to take $1 million loot after exploiting DeFi protocol

Quick Take

  • DeFi protocol Zeed was exploited for $1 million.
  • The hacker destroyed the contract used without moving any of the tokens, rendering them immobile.

A strange event in the DeFi ecosystem occurred today when a small hack took place — and the hacker failed to make off with the stolen funds.

The exploit happened at a lesser-known DeFi protocol called Zeed, which fashions itself as an "autonomous decentralized financial integrated ecosystem" that runs on BNB Chain.

At about 7.15 AM UTC, the protocol was attacked by minting extra rewards. The rewards were sold on the market, crashing the token's price to zero.

Afterwards, the hacker destroyed the contract used in the exploit. This meant that any tokens held by the contract could no longer be moved, security expert PeckShield confirmed in messages to The Block.

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"The hacker kills the contract, but forgets to transfer the profit," noted PeckShield.

Blockchain security firm BlockSec added, "Interestingly, the attacker does not transfer the obtained tokens out before self-destructing the attack contract. Probably, he/she was too excited."

It is unclear if there was anything that prevented the hacker from taking the tokens.


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About Author

Tim is the Editor-In-Chief of The Block. Prior to joining The Block, Tim was a news editor at Decrypt. He has earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the University of York and studied news journalism at Press Association Training. Follow him on X @Timccopeland.