The UXLINK hack saga has another strange twist, as the original perpetrator was targeted by a phishing scam. Whoever they were, this hacker lost $48 million in assets.
Despite this, they managed to profit at least $28 million by minting and selling new UXLINK tokens. The firm plans to change its token protocols to prevent a similar incident in the future.
SponsoredUXLINK Thief Profits Despite New Hack
Yesterday’s $11 million UXLINK hack caused a large raucous in the crypto community, especially because the perpetrator was able to gain a mint role over the token. This allowed them to mint 2 billion new tokens on Arbitrum, significantly disrupting Upbit’s UXLINK listing.
However, the tables have apparently turned in a humorous fashion. One day after carrying out the UXLINK hack, the perpetrator fell victim to a phishing attack, losing $48 million in short order:
Indeed, the original perpetrator lost far more UXLINK tokens than they stole in the hack. This reflects the staggering extent of their minting spree, which was apparently the main source of profits.
For example, the hacker managed to launder at least $28.1 million into ETH before the phishing incident took place.
All things considered, this is a tidy profit, especially because the initial hack only yielded around $11 million in UXLINK and other tokens. Even if the phishing attack put an end to this minting spree, the perpetrator could still ostensibly consider this crime a success.
Resolving the Minting Chaos
SponsoredNeedless to say, this chaotic hack has been very taxing on the UXLINK team. According to a recent update, these crimes have undermined both “the UXLINK whitepaper and the community’s consensus.”
In response, developers are taking a few measures to stabilize the situation.
First, the team confirmed that previous plans for a token swap are going to happen. Several “major CEX partners” expressed their “full support” in conducting an unspecified token swap plan, which aims to re-stabilize the flailing UXLINK economy.
UXLINK has also prepared a new smart contract to prevent another hack incident from causing this chaos. Moving forward, the token will have a fixed supply, preventing criminals from hijacking the mint functionality.
Developers requested a third-party security audit of this contract, and are preparing a comprehensive incident report of their own.
These measures have prevented further price collapse, but it’ll take a lot of effort to rebuild customer trust. UXLINK may have to change its entire token paradigm in the wake of this hack. The firm’s update notes that the mint-and-burn functions had real utility in cross-chain interactions.
Now, however, UXLINK’s new whitepaper will need to find another solution.
