- Holograph’s HLG token fell nearly 80% after 1 billion tokens, worth $14.4 million, were minted from a hacker who managed to exploit the protocol’s operator contract address.
- The 1 billion HLG tokens were minted across nine transactions by the hacker, with the first mint on June 13 at 9:47 am UTC.
- Holograph has patched the initial exploit, is working with cryptocurrency exchanges to freeze the hacker’s accounts, has launched an investigation, and is contacting law enforcement.
Holograph’s native token HLG fell sharply in value after a hacker exploited a vulnerability in the protocol’s operator contract address. This allowed them to mint 1 billion HLG tokens worth $14.4 million at the time.
Hacker Mints 1 Billion HLG Tokens
The hacker minted the 1 billion HLG tokens across 9 transactions, taking advantage of a smart contract vulnerability. The first transaction occurred on June 13th at 9:47am UTC.
Seven transactions were in 100 million token batches. It only took 10 minutes for HLG’s price to start falling after the exploit.
HLG Price Plummets Nearly 80% in 9 Hours
Within 9 hours of the initial exploit, HLG’s price plunged 79.4% from $0.0014 to a local low of $0.00029. The token’s market cap also fell dramatically from nearly $22 million to $4.8 million.
The 1 billion minted HLG tokens were worth $14.4 million at the time. But as the price crashed, they were only worth $7.4 million. The hacker started converting the illicit HLG into Tether stablecoins shortly after.
Holograph Investigating Exploit and Contacting Authorities
Holograph has confirmed the exploit and says they’ve patched the vulnerability. The project is working with exchanges to freeze the hacker’s accounts.
Holograph has also launched an internal investigation and is contacting law enforcement regarding the hack. The identity of the hacker remains unknown at this time.
This exploit is just the latest in a long string of hacks targeting DeFi protocols and costing users billions in funds. It serves as an urgent reminder for projects to thoroughly audit smart contracts for vulnerabilities before launch.
