DeFi Protocol Receives $5.4 Million In Ethereum From Euler Exploiter Return

On-chain investigator ZachXBT revealed that the person who exploited Euler Finance returned 3,000 Ethereum worth around $5.4 million to the DeFi lending protocol last Saturday. The thief who stole $197M from the protocol may have reconciled with Euler Finance, as indicated by the returned funds.

They were trolling with that transaction to Lazarus

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) March 18, 2023

Euler Finance has offered a 10% reward worth $19.7 million for the return of 90% of the stolen funds. On Tuesday, the person in charge of the theft received the offer. The assailant was issued a notice that specified they had 24 hours to return the money, or a $1 million reward would be paid for any information that resulted in their capture and the recovery of the entire amount.

This condition might only last a short while because it seems like the thief had a change of heart. The thief was able to drain all the assets through a number of transactions, and after that, he used a multichain bridge to transfer the money from the BNB Chain to Ethereum.

Euler Finance Flash-Loan Attack

In a flash-loan attack, Euler suffered a loss of $197 million. Furthermore, Flash loan-based attacks on DeFi exploit the ability to borrow large sums of money without collateral. However, repayment is required before the transaction is finalized, making them vulnerable to exploitation. Therefore, These attacks have become a significant risk factor in the DeFi space.

The Euler attacker caused huge losses in various cryptocurrencies – $8.7M in DAI, $34M in USDC, $19M in WBTC, and $136M in teeth. This resulted in a total system loss of $197.7M. To evade detection, the perpetrators moved 1,100 Ethereum (worth $1.8M) to Tornado Cash, a crypto mixer.

The return of the remaining funds is uncertain, and there are speculations that the attacker might be playing games as they stopped at 3,000 Ethereum. Moreover, ZachXBT tweeted that the attacker previously trolled with a transaction to Lazarus.

Lookonchain reported that on Friday, a wallet managed by the Euler attacker transferred 100 Eth (approximately $170,500) to a wallet linked with the Ronin network hack by Lazarus Group.

Euler Finance Exploiter transferred 100 $ETH to Ronin Bridge Exploiter(stole 173,600 $ETH and 25.5M $USDC).

Ronin Bridge Exploiter was listed by #OFAC as Lazarus Group – the North Korean state hacking group.

Are the two hackers the same person or was it intentional? pic.twitter.com/aPzOkSlXb6

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) March 17, 2023

Related Reading | New Ethereum Roadmap By Vitalik Buterin Includes “The Scourge” Phase

The U.S. included Lazarus Group, a North Korean hacker organization, on its list last year in April. Department of the Treasury’s list of sanctioned entities. It’s essential to keep this in mind.