- The decentralized finance (DeFi) world faces another security scare as Bitcoin DeFi platform Alex Lab confirms a hacking incident leading to the loss of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency.
- The stolen assets were primarily composed of altcoin Stacks (STX), causing a temporary price drop in major exchanges like South Korea’s Upbit.
- Alex Lab is actively working on multiple fronts to recover the stolen funds and minimize further damage.
Alex Lab, a Bitcoin DeFi platform, confirms a hacking incident leading to the loss of millions in cryptocurrency, primarily altcoin Stacks (STX). The platform is actively working to recover the stolen funds.
Upbit issues warning about altcoin STX
As we reported on CoinOtag, Alex Lab was hacked a few days ago. On May 16, Alex Lab admitted to a targeted attack on their platform. According to their statements, the hackers gained unauthorized access to the administrative privileges of a vault associated with the Alex Liquidity Pool. This put a significant amount of cryptocurrency held in the pool at risk, including approximately 13.7 million STX tokens.
Hackers begin transferring STX to various centralized exchanges
The attackers then began transferring about 3 million STX to various centralized exchanges (CEXs), along with the possibility of more transfers. Alex Lab managed to recover other assets in the pool, including aBTC, sUSDT, and ALEX tokens. The news triggered panic in the STX market. According to OKX market data, the price of the token dropped by over 7% within 15 minutes, falling to $2.01. Upbit, one of South Korea’s leading crypto exchanges, issued a statement warning users about the potential for increased price volatility in STX due to the hack.
Alex Lab works to ensure security
Despite the breaches, Alex Lab maintains that its smart contract codes and infrastructures remain secure. The platform’s team is actively working on multiple fronts to recover the stolen funds and minimize further damage. Alex Lab is closely monitoring the attacker’s wallets and has informed all relevant centralized exchanges. Known accounts associated with the attacker have been frozen, and all platforms have been called upon to halt all deposit and withdrawal activities.
Conclusion
Alex Lab managed to identify and recover some of the stolen funds from a CEX. They are actively cooperating with other exchanges to facilitate the return of additional assets through established procedures. This news comes after Alex Lab confirmed a previous loss of $4.3 million in an attack. Interestingly, the platform initially offered the hackers a 10% reward in exchange for the return of 90% of the stolen funds. However, the focus seems to have shifted with the latest update focusing on legal measures and recovery through CEXs. The full scope of the Alex Lab attack and its long-term impact on the STX market and DeFi ecosystem is not yet known. As Alex Lab’s recovery efforts continue, the incident serves as a stark reminder of the security risks associated with DeFi platforms.
