The potential cyber attack from North Korea has caused a frenzy for Hyperliquid's HYPE token, highlighting serious risks in the decentralized finance sector.
#Hyperliquid , a layer one blockchain and decentralized exchange, faced a significant shock as reports emerged about the potential involvement of North Korean hackers causing the token value and total value locked to plummet over the weekend.
Security expert Taylor Monahan discovered suspicious wallet activity related to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on December 22. This led to the price of #Hyperliquid and total value locked dropping by 20%. Monahan, who collaborates with MetaMask, revealed that wallet addresses linked to North Korea had been liquidated for amounts up to $458,000 on Hyperliquid.
In his post, Monahan warned that North Korea's activities are not ordinary trading but show signs of espionage, hinting at a potential future cyber attack.
As a result, the total value locked of #Hyperliquid dropped from $2.56 billion to $2.05 billion, while the price of HYPE token fell from $34 to $27 before partially recovering. The #Hyperliquid Labs team quickly responded, denying any breaches in an official statement on Discord: "There has not been any exploitation from North Korea — or any other exploitation — of Hyperliquid."
Cygaar, developer and contributor of the Abstract chain, reassured the community that they have prepared contingency measures such as freezing USDC or restoring the chain in case of an exploitation. He stated: "I won't panic too much about this right now — there are precautions in place for the worst-case scenario that could happen."
This incident underscores the serious risks of cyber attacks in the decentralized finance space, as North Korean hackers increasingly target vulnerabilities to fund state activities.
As of the time of the press report, Hyperliquid's $HYPE token had recovered most of its losses from yesterday's decline and is trading around $313, up 15%.