DeFi Project dForce Refunds All Affected Users After $25M Hack

The Lendf.me smart contract was hacked on April 29, but then, curiously, the funds were returned two days later.

AccessTimeIconApr 28, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. UTC
Updated May 9, 2023 at 3:08 a.m. UTC
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Digital assets stolen in a hack on crypto lending platform dForce last week have been returned to customers.

As reported by CoinDesk, a hack on the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol saw $25 million in cryptocurrencies exit its wallets over three hours on April 19. Curiously, the assets were returned two days later, for reasons that weren't made fully clear.

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  • Most of the funds have now been used to pay back all users who'd lost crypto in the attack, according to a Monday announcement by dForce.

    "Over 90 percent of assets have been distributed to users in less than 24 hours. 100 percent users have been made whole in the recovery. We will disclose more future actions shortly," the company tweeted.

    CEO Mindao Yang said in a blog post a week ago that the funds had been "recaptured through the efforts collaboratively made by our partners, law enforcement, investors, the community, and our team members."

    In another Medium post on Sunday, the company explained how it has been working since April 25 to audit asset data with a third party and establish a risk management procedure for the redistribution of customer's funds.

    Additionally, the company had been working to develop an "Asset Recovery System" to enable the smooth transition of users assets back to their MetaMask wallets, as well as finalizing a post-asset-redistribution action proposal to its community.

    "Following the return of the stolen funds, all assets have been stored in a cold wallet. The funds are secure, and we’re eager to return them," the company said at the time.

    DForce also indicated it has rebalanced most of the portfolio back to the last state prior to the Lendf.me smart contract being hacked and "indefinitely paused" the contract.

    As recently as April 14, the dForce Foundation closed a $1.5 million strategic round led by Multicoin Capital and joined by Huobi Capital and Chinese bank CMB International. The funds were to be used to grow its team and launch additional DeFi products in the coming year.

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