Eigenlayer (EIGEN) has reassured the community that the platform’s infrastructure and on-chain protocols are safe after an investor lost approximately $6 million worth of EIGEN tokens due to a compromised email incident on October 4.
A hacker stole 1,673,645 EIGEN tokens by hacking into an email thread between an investor and the platform’s custodian service. The EIGEN team said the attacker intercepted the communication, causing the investor to accidentally transfer tokens to his address.
The stolen tokens were quickly liquidated on a decentralized exchange platform, and the attacker converted the proceeds into stablecoins. These stablecoins were then transferred to centralized exchanges to try to obscure their tracks.
In response, the EIGEN team cooperated with multiple exchanges and law enforcement agencies, successfully freezing a portion of the stolen funds.
In its statement, EigenLayer stressed that the breach was limited to investor email exchanges and did not stem from any weakness in the platform’s protocol or smart contracts.
Following a preliminary investigation into the incident, the team said:
“This incident was not related to any on-chain functionality. Our protocol remains secure and holders are not at risk.”
The attack prompted the team to strengthen its security protocols, especially when it comes to investor communications. According to the update, the broader ecosystem was not affected by the incident.
The statement also said:
“We will continue to investigate and share further updates as more information becomes available.”
While the stolen funds are a huge loss for investors, EigenLayer’s quick response in freezing a portion of the assets shows the importance of cooperation between decentralized platforms, centralized exchanges, and law enforcement in solving token thefts.
In addition to prohibiting current and former employees from staking any EIGEN tokens received from Eigen Labs on EigenLayer until at least September 30, 2025, the company also imposed a ban on token sales until next year.
According to the official lockup schedule, starting from September 2025, 4% of each recipient's EIGEN will be unlocked each month until all employee and investor tokens are unlocked in September 2027.
“It was previously announced that investors and early contributors would adhere to the above lockup schedule,” the team wrote in its documentation.
The EIGEN tokens were airdropped from May 10, 2024, meaning the wallet under investigation is still within the one-year lockup period.
EigenLayer is an Ethereum-based protocol that pioneers a crypto-economic security model called “restaking”, allowing the reuse of staked ETH to secure decentralized applications.
Source: https://tapchibitcoin.io/eigenlayer-tran-an-nguoi-dung-sau-vu-hack-email-6-trieu-do-la.html
