The cryptocurrency business is under more regulatory scrutiny, yet criminality is still occurring. In fact, the number of cryptocurrency hacks and frauds is continuing to rise, with offenders becoming more audacious in their crimes. Even if the latest Solana (SOL-USD) breach isn’t the week’s first, it is one of the most well-known hacks in recent memory.
CertiK, a blockchain security firm, has been tracking the growth of cryptocurrency-related crime in 2022. It delivered its mid-year report on investor losses at the conclusion of the second quarter. The numbers are staggering; consumers have already lost $2 billion in crypto assets this year, much above the entire amount stolen in 2021. Criminals have a gold mine to exploit with the proliferation of Web 3.0 businesses and the exploding demand for non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Investors saw the most recent noteworthy assault through the Nomad crypto bridge only a few days ago. The bridge was used by criminals to steal $200 million in cryptocurrency from the project. Although this loss is sizable, it pales in comparison to the greatest hack of the year. Over $600 million was seized in hacks like the one on the Ronin (RON-USD) network.
Naturally, when thieves gain confidence, they take on bigger projects, which inevitably have more value locked on-chain and plenty of consumers to attempt to con. The most well-known initiative in the NFT, Bored Ape Yacht Club, has been the victim of many frauds this year. Today, Solana is in the limelight since it is the target of the most recent scam.
Solana Wallets Wiped Out in New Crypto Hack, Losing Millions
Criminals have focused their attention on Solana in the aftermath of the Nomad breach. The attack is one of the most well-known instances of cybercrime to date since it included one of the biggest layer-1 networks in the world and one of the biggest cryptocurrencies in SOL.
Solana users had been tweeting about an attack that was emptying users’ wallets one by one until late Tuesday evening and into into the night. These users discovered that a large number of the drained wallets are Phantom wallets or those linked to the decentralized Magic Eden program (dApp). The assault looks to be going on right now.
Over 8,000 Solana wallets have been impacted thus far, and $5 million worth of assets have been taken. The majority of these assets consist of native Solana tokens like SOL and others, although some users have reported missing USD Coin (USDC-USD). Some people continue to claim that they have seen money disappear from the Ethereum (ETH-USD) chain as well. If this is the case, the breach will be considerably more extensive than first believed. According to preliminary ideas, the hacker is carrying out the assault by signing for transactions on behalf of the users.
The safest course of action for Solana users is to transfer their funds from online “hot wallets” like Phantom to offline “cold wallet” storage while the assault spreads across the network.
The SOL cryptocurrency has generally maintained its value during the crisis, but as the day goes on, it seems to be trending lower. SOL-USD is now down by around 3%.