SafeMoon Reaches Agreement With Hacker After $8.9M Binance Coin Hack

SafeMoon recovers 80% of stolen funds in agreement with a hacker and keeps 20% of stolen crypto

On March 28, SafeMoon, a decentralized finance protocol running on Binance Coin (BNB) Chain, suffered a hack that resulted in the loss of 27,000 BNB worth $8.9 million at the time. However, the SafeMoon team has reached an agreement with the hacker who drained $8.9 million of Binance Coin from its protocol. 

According to a blockchain message published on April 18 by the SafeMoon Deployer account, the attacker has consented to surrender 80% of the cash, meaning they can keep the remaining 20% of the exposed cryptocurrency.

The SafeMoon team had been in communication with the attacker since the hack occurred. On March 29, the attacker claimed that the funds were drained accidentally. 

The SafeMoon team responded by asking the attacker to offer a Telegram handle where they could be contacted, but the attacker provided an anonymous Outlook email address instead. The team then sent an email message to the attacker on the same day.

DeFi protocols negotiating returns highlight the need for larger Bug Bounties and payment dependability

Finally, on April 18, the SafeMoon Deployer account posted a transaction to the BNB network containing a coded message stating that SafeMoon had reached an agreement with the attacker. SafeMoon agreed to accept 80% of the amount returned, and the attacker would retain the balance as a bounty. SafeMoon also agreed not to file any legal actions against the attacker.

This is not the first time that a hacker has negotiated to keep some of the funds gained from hacking DeFi protocols. Recently, the Euler Finance attacker returned nearly all of the funds gained from the attack after issuing an apology message. The exploiter who had stolen $967,000 worth of cryptocurrency from Sentiment also gave back roughly 90% of it after the team permitted them to keep the rest.

Some Web3 engineers contend that bug bounties should be increased in size and that development teams should be more dependable in their payment. They think this would encourage hackers to report defects rather than use them for their own gain. 

Also, read - The Great British Crypto Adventure: U.K. Government to Regulate Crypto with British Politeness