- A blockchain security researcher known as Nick L. Franklin has been implicated in the $50 million Radiant Capital hack
- Franklin’s activities have drawn suspicion from fellow security professionals due to his alleged involvement in the exploit
- Evidence suggests that Franklin’s addresses were linked to transactions associated with the Radiant Capital breach
In a surprising development within the decentralized finance (DeFi) community, Nick L. Franklin, a prominent blockchain security researcher, has been accused of participating in the $50 million hack of Radiant Capital. Colleagues in the field have raised concerns over his recent actions, pointing to potential connections between his digital addresses and those used in the exploit. This revelation has sent shockwaves through the DeFi sector, highlighting vulnerabilities even among its security experts.
Suspicious Activities Raise the Alarm
The Radiant Capital hack occurred on January 3, 2024, and exploited a vulnerability in the protocol’s USDC market on Arbitrum. The attacker used a flash loan to manipulate token prices and drained over $4.5 million in initial value, which later ballooned to over $50 million through linked exploits and laundering. Radiant paused its lending markets immediately after the attack and has since been working with blockchain analysts to trace the stolen funds.
The situation concerning Franklin came to light when Anton Bukov, co-founder of the decentralized exchange 1inch, reported a suspicious interaction with Franklin on X. Bukov recounted that Franklin is “very likely a scammer pretending to be a security engineer” and added that he “sent me an APP file as a report and erased our chat and banned me after I asked WTF.” This incident prompted other security professionals to scrutinize Franklin’s online behavior and interactions.
Franklin Blames Impersonation
Further investigation revealed that an address associated with Franklin had been a signer on multisig wallets used in testing phases of the Radiant Capital exploit. Taylor Monahan of Metamask emphasized the risks within the community, stating, “Security researchers and their communities are being targeted in particular.” These findings suggest a deeper level of involvement by Franklin in the breach than initially suspected.
In response to the allegations, Franklin claimed that his “Telegram and personal site was compromised” and requested the deletion of related posts. Despite this, he has not addressed the specific evidence linking his digital addresses to the Radiant Capital hack, which some argue is proof of his complicity.
