DeFiance Capital Founder Hacked For $1.6 Million

Crypto hacks are still going, despite the ongoing security enhancements from the crypto industry. The latest hack affected the founder of major crypto investment firm DeFiance Capital “Arthur_0x”.

The hackers, according to a report, stole more than $1.6 million in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptocurrency.

Meanwhile, the crypto community showed a tremendous wave of support, in order to help retrieve the stolen items as he asked people to blacklist the hacker’s wallet. Numerous individuals tried to figure out the exact pattern of the hack attack, as well as how the hacker gained access to his wallets.

One of the crypto community members, dubbed “Cirrus”, bought two of the stolen Azuki NFTs and decided to return them to Arthur at cost.

“I found out they were hacked, and instead of selling them for profit like the other folks who got some of his, decided I’d sell them back to him at a cost to help him out,” Cirrus added.

Furthermore, Cirrus noted that this “isn’t the first time” this has happened to him.

“I could easily go sell them for 6-8 Ether (ETH) profit, but it just isn’t right.” Cirrus noted, adding that he has “found out they were hacked, and instead of selling them for profit like the other folks who got some of his, decided I’d sell them back to him at cost to help him out.”.

According to various sources, Arthur appears to have lost 78 different NFTs from five collections, mostly “Azukis.” Arthur also lost 68 wrapped Ethereum (wETH), 4,349 staked DYDX (stkDYDX) and 1,578 LooksRare (LOOKS) tokens.

The hacker began migrating funds at about 12:30 am UTC, and posted all the NFTs up for bid on the OpenSea NFT marketplace.

Self-custody concerns

Such hacks are showcasing the importance of enhanced security of self-custodian crypto wallets, as the scope of individuals who can be attacked can be of various echelons.

“I was pretty careful and stuck with only using hardware wallet on PC until I start trading NFT more regularly. Hot wallet on a mobile phone is indeed not safe enough”, Arthur noted on Twitter.

In Arthur’s case, he could have mitigated some of the risks, associated with keeping funds in a hot wallet via migrating them in a cold wallet. A hardware wallet, unlike a hot, software wallet, is not always connected to the network. This feature can keep one’s private key and seed phrase safe from intrusion.

The latest crypto hack showcases how NFT and crypto scams are always a danger, so investors should take the highest security precautions with their assets. Furthermore, serial scammers design projects to take advantage of the NFT community and pull the rug then move on to the next scam.

Cirrus pointed out that “This is a gold rush for hackers and they’re doing everything they can to come up with new ways to take advantage”.