Rho Markets, a liquidity layer and lending protocol on Scroll, has suffered a significant breach, losing over $7.6 million in USD Coin and USDT.
This incident is another major setback for the cryptocurrency industry
The breach occurred when a malicious actor gained access to the protocol’s blockchain oracle, according to a July 19 post on X by blockchain security firm Cyvers.
Cyers reported, RhoMarketsHQ has announced that they have detected unusual activity on their platform on #Scroll chain and paused the platform! Root cause of this incident seems to be an oracle access control by a malicious actor!”
This week has proven particularly profitable for cryptocurrency hackers, marking the second most lucrative week for stolen funds in 2024.
On July 18, WazirX was hacked for over $230 million, with the attacker converting $149 million worth of Shiba Inu tokens and other altcoins into Ether.
Just two days prior, on July 16, the Li.Fi protocol was exploited, resulting in over $10 million worth of cryptocurrency being drained through a smart contract exploit. This incident has since been contained.
Further compounding the week’s challenges, players of the viral Telegram-based game Hamster Kombat were targeted by phishing attacks and fake cryptocurrency airdrops, designed to steal user credentials, according to cybersecurity firm Kaspersky.
Crypto hacks remain a significant issue in the decentralized finance space, impeding the broader adoption of cryptocurrencies.
Over the past 13 years, nearly $19 billion worth of digital assets have been stolen in 785 reported hacks and exploits since the first known crypto hack on June 19, 2011.
In February 2024, PlayDapp experienced a $290 million security breach, the largest single crypto heist in the past two years.
Additionally, 2024 may surpass 2023 in terms of stolen funds, with $542.7 million worth of cryptocurrency stolen in the first quarter alone, representing a 42% increase compared to the same period in 2023.