UwU Lend suffered a nearly $20 million hacker attack, and security issues on the DeFi platform have raised community concerns

Decentralized lending platform UwU Lend has unfortunately become the latest victim of a malicious hacker attack. According to blockchain security company Arkham, the attacker stole up to $19.3 million.

Currently, the specific cause of the attack has not been determined, but some users have begun to suspect that the project’s founder is manipulating behind the scenes.

UwU Lend 亏损1930万美元

UwU Lend, a platform that forks from the open-source code of the Ethereum lending protocol AAVE v2, provides various services including borrowing and staking. The platform promises to distribute 100% of all revenue to users in the form of UwU tokens.

Despite UwU Lend claiming on its official website that it has not been hacked since its establishment in 2022, this incident has made it part of many security events in the DeFi space.

On-chain data shows that the attacker has transferred the stolen funds through multiple wallet addresses. An encrypted user who reported this vulnerability on the blockchain browser Etherscan pointed out that the attacker used Curve LlamaLend as a tool to withdraw liquidity.

At the time of writing this article, the UwU Lend development team has confirmed the attack and is taking measures to recover the funds. The team stated, ‘The protocol was paused approximately one hour ago, and the team is investigating the situation. We took necessary actions immediately upon realizing the issue and are working hard to address it. Please stay tuned for further updates.’

Internal staff’s behind-the-scenes operation?

Furthermore, due to the lack of a clear investigation report, some users have begun to accuse the project founder of possible involvement in this attack. UwU Lend was launched in September 2022 by Michael Patryn, co-founder of the bankrupt Canadian cryptocurrency exchange Quadriga CX. Prior to this, Patryn was found to have transferred millions of dollars’ worth of ETH while serving as the financial controller of Wonderland DAO.

However, due to Patryn’s return as the head of the UwU team, Sifu, and his previous history, some community members are skeptical about whether he is involved in the theft of funds, although there is currently a lack of evidence to support these suspicions.

Conclusion:

The hacker incident of UwU Lend once again highlights the security challenges faced by the DeFi field. Despite the team’s active response and measures to recover losses, the community’s concerns about the founder also reflect the general concerns about transparency and reputation of DeFi projects.

This incident reminds all DeFi users and developers that security is always the top priority and that a thorough review of the team behind the project is also needed.

As the investigation deepens, we hope to reveal the truth and provide valuable security experiences and lessons for UwU Lend users and other DeFi participants.