Hacker behind KyberSwap breach demands full control over the project

The hacker behind the decentralized exchange KyberSwap demanded the transfer of all project assets and documents, including equity and tokens.

??? New development on the @KyberNetwork exploit: https://t.co/fkaiyVQ0d4 pic.twitter.com/oF5GdRgMbb

— PeckShield Inc. (@peckshield) November 30, 2023

He noted that it concerns both on-chain and off-chain ownership.

News of the Elastic Pools liquidity pool hack, through which the hacker withdrew about $47 million from the protocol, was revealed on 23 November. In the transaction he left a message signaling his intention to start negotiations “within a few hours”.

Later, the KyberSwap decentralized autonomous organization appealed to the attacker with an offer to return most of the funds by 25 November in exchange for a reward.

A week later, the hacker responded, proposing the aforementioned “sole and best” terms.

If implemented, he pledged to double employees’ salaries. For those who choose to leave the project, the hacker said he would provide a 12-month severance with full benefits and help in finding new work.

Under his plan, liquidity providers would be entitled to recover 50% of the funds. The attacker acknowledged that this was “not what would satisfy them, but more than they deserve.”

“Token holders, your assets will lose value. Isn’t that enough? I will go further. Under my leadership Kyber will undergo a complete restructuring. It will no longer be the seventh most popular DEX, but rather a completely new cryptographic project,” the hacker wrote.

He offered top executives a “fair value” buyout. The hacker noted that the latter “did nothing wrong and were simply unlucky due to a misstep—the rounding in the wrong direction”.

The hacker set December 10 as a deadline. If the terms are not met by then, he will deem the agreement a failure. The hacker left his contacts on Telegram.

Earlier, the KyberSwap team warned about fake compensation offers.

Earlier, in November, an unknown individual withdrew $25 million in cryptocurrencies from the Taiwanese trading platform Kronos Research.