Originally published on: September 21, 2024
Blockchain lending platform Shezmu made headlines by quickly recovering almost $5 million in stolen funds after negotiating with a hacker. This impressive feat was achieved leveraging the yield protocol within hours of the breach being discovered.
The saga began on Sept. 21 when Chaofan Shou, co-founder of Fuzzland, raised the alarm about a compromised storage vault linked to Shezmu. The hacker managed to steal around $4.9 million worth of various cryptocurrencies, sparking concerns about the nature of the attack.
In response, Shezmu revealed that one of its stablecoin vaults had been exploited and promptly reached out to the hacker with a unique offer. The platform urged the hacker to return 90% of the stolen funds within 24 hours in exchange for a bounty reward and no legal repercussions. Surprisingly, the hacker requested a 20% bounty reward, which Shezmu agreed to, leading to a swift resolution.
Within a matter of hours, Shezmu started receiving the stolen funds back into its wallet. While not all funds were recovered at the time of writing, the team is actively working to secure the remaining amount. In the meantime, investors have been advised to limit their interaction with Shezmu’s Oasis vault until further updates are provided.
In a contrasting situation, Indian crypto exchange WazirX continues to struggle in recovering $230 million in stolen funds after 60 days of being hacked. Despite pointing fingers at its custodian, Liminal, for the loss, an independent audit revealed no evidence of wrongdoing on Liminal’s part.
Moreover, WazirX is facing legal challenges from irate customers, with rival exchange CoinSwitch initiating legal action to recover a portion of its lost funds. These contrasting stories underline the importance of responsive and proactive measures in handling security breaches within the crypto industry.
