- The $35 million hack on DeFi protocol Vee Finance has been passed to the FBI
- Someone exploited the protocol last week and took thousands of ETH and hundreds of BTC
- Vee Finance took immediate action to track the funds and report the incident
DeFi protocol Vee Finance, which saw $35 million worth of BTC and ETH stolen in a hack last week, has seen the case handed over to the FBI as they try to retrieve the stolen coins. Someone exploited the protocol last week and made off with the huge haul which they have started to disseminate among other wallets and mixing services, but with major exchanges now logging related addresses and the FBI now monitoring the situation, the thief might find their ill-gotten gains harder to dispose of in their entirety.
“Abnormal Transfers” Alerted Developers to Theft
Vee Finance announced that the platform had been exploited last Tuesday, where they revealed that they had spotted a series of “abnormal transfers” which totalled 8,804.7 ETH and 213.93 BTC, worth some $35 million at the time. Deposits, withdrawals and all contracts were halted as a result, with the team putting out a $500,000 bounty for anyone who could “track down” the hacker.
We are putting out a 500,000USD worth bounty for the person or team who can track down the attacker and return the funds.
Those with information relating to the attacker can contact us at: [email protected] via email.
— vee.finance🔺 (@VeeFinance) September 23, 2021
With the help of two blockchain analysis firms, Vee Finance was able to identify the source of the hack, with the person or persons responsible manipulating the values within a specific pool and making off with the funds before the automated veto protocol kicked in. After collecting as much information as possible on the hacker, Vee Finance passed the case to the local police unit who, due to the amount of money involved and a “potential link to other attacks”, passed the case onto the FBI.
Update: To #VeeFinance Community: we have filed the police report to the local police station in the United States, and due to the significant amount of loss, our local police officer has escalated this case to the FBI. For further updates, please follow our Twitter.
— vee.finance🔺 (@VeeFinance) September 25, 2021
Vee Finance Hoped FBI Can Trace Funds
The hacker has begun moving the funds into other wallets and has sent some of the bitcoin to mixing service CoinJoin, which is the only way the hacker has of obscuring the source of the funds, although even that isn’t guaranteed long term. With the FBI now involved the hacker will need to tread very carefully and may find difficulty in cashing out anything that hasn’t been through a mixer.
For its part, Vee Finance, which has done all it can following the hack, is now asking affected users how they would like to be compensated, with a two way vote (USDT or original coins) offered on the platform’s website.
