TL;DR
- UwU Lend has suffered two hacks in one week, with total losses of $23 million.
- The most recent attack, identified by Slowmist, resulted in the loss of $3.72 million.
- UWU token governance has fallen 81% in the last year, reflecting a crisis of confidence in the protocol.
UwU Lend, an Ethereum-based lending and liquidity protocol, has fallen victim to its second hack in a single week, racking up losses amounting to $23 million.
The most recent incident occurred on June 13, when an attacker managed to mine $3.72 million worth of various tokens, including Wrapped Ether (WETH) and several stablecoins such as DAI, USDC, LUSD, and FRAX.
🚨SlowMist Security Alert🚨
We have detected that @UwU_Lend has suffered another loss of $3.72M.https://t.co/ttLSq0m18u
As always, stay vigilant! pic.twitter.com/6tz2e5NDwx
— SlowMist (@SlowMist_Team) June 13, 2024
This attack was identified by Slowmist, a blockchain security firm that shared EtherScan on-chain data, revealing that a single wallet was responsible for the theft of funds.
This new attack follows a previous hack that UwU Lend suffered on June 10, where the attackers managed to steal $19.3 million.
According to Cyvers Alerts, another on-chain security firm, hackers exploited price data from faulty oracles related to five stablecoins.
This attack was carried out in two phases: initially, the attackers extracted $14 million and an hour later they managed to steal an additional $6 million.
The impact of these incidents has been notable in the value of the UwU Lend governance token, known as UWU, which has seen a drop of 14.5% in the last seven days and a total decrease of 81% in the last year.
Currently, the token has a market capitalization of $26 million, reflecting a significant loss of confidence on the part of investors.
Prior to these incidents, UwU Lend had managed to accumulate a total value locked (TVL) of $115 million as of the end of April.
However, the hacks have caused an abrupt drop in the TVL to $66 million, according to data from DefiLlama.
Context and Reactions from UwU Lend
UwU Lend was founded by Sifu, a controversial figure in the cryptocurrency community.
Sifu was previously the CFO of Frog Nation and co-founder of QuadrigaCX, a Canadian cryptocurrency exchange that collapsed in 2019 after losing $190 million in customer funds.
Sifu’s relationship with these previous events has generated distrust in the crypto community, which has been exacerbated by the recent hacks.
Blockchain security experts have urged users to remain vigilant.
Slowmist and Cyvers Alerts have played a crucial role in identifying and disclosing these attacks, providing valuable information about how they occurred and what can be done to prevent future incidents.
The series of attacks on UwU Lend underscores the vulnerability of DeFi protocols to sophisticated exploits.
As hackers find new ways to compromise security, platforms must continually improve their protection and response mechanisms.
Amid this chaos, UwU Lend users and developers face the difficult task of rebuilding trust and securing remaining funds.
Reinforced security measures and transparency in crisis management will be critical to restoring credibility and stabilizing the value of the UWU token and the protocol’s TVL.
The crypto community will be closely monitoring UwU Lend stock in the coming days and weeks as they strive to recover from these significant losses and prevent future attacks.
