Polter Finance lost $12M due to a flash loan exploit.
Platform paused operations, involving law enforcement and tracking the hacker.
PeckShield reported that an address linked to the Polter Finance exploiter transferred 120 ETH to Tornado Cash, a privacy tool commonly used to obscure blockchain transactions. Polter Finance, a decentralized non-custodial lending and borrowing platform, recently suffered a devastating hack, resulting in approximately $8.7 million in crypto losses. The incident has prompted the platform to halt operations and involve law enforcement.
#PeckShieldAlert @polterfinance exploiter – labeled address has transferred 120 $ETH to #TornadoCash.@polterfinance suffered a hack, resulting in losses of ~$8.7 million worth of cryptos. pic.twitter.com/xFoQpEXJlj
— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) November 19, 2024
The attack drained Polter Finance’s total value locked (TVL) of $12 million on November 17. Shortly after identifying the exploit, the platform paused its operations and notified investors via X (formerly Twitter). According to Polter Finance, the stolen funds were traced to wallets on Binance.
Polter Finance has yet to confirm the specifics of the attack but reached out to the hacker via an on-chain message, offering a chance for negotiation and impunity. The message remains unanswered as of now.
Meanwhile, the platform’s pseudonymous founder, Whichghost, filed a police report in Singapore. The report details over $12 million in losses, including $223,219 in personal losses. Whichghost stated, “I did not provide anyone my login details (private keys)… I believe the exploit occurred due to vulnerabilities in the smart contract deployed for BOO token lending.”
Criticisms and Steps Ahead
Criticism has surfaced within the community, with some speculating the possibility of insider involvement. Observers noted that filing a police report might be a distraction tactic, although no evidence currently supports these claims.
In response, Polter Finance announced a collaboration with the Security Alliance Information Sharing and Analysis Center (SEAL-ISAC) to track the attacker. Despite these efforts, skepticism lingers, with the hack exposing significant vulnerabilities in DeFi protocols reliant on poorly vetted smart contracts.
Polter Finance’s market size included $7.87 million in Fantom, $1.03 million in wrapped USD Coin (USDC), and $2.1 million in Stader sFTMX, among others.
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