Cryptocurrency [loss] $15M+

"How Attackers Made $15M From Staking Platform Helio After Ankr Exploit"

2022-12-01 [vendor] Helio attack [chain] bsc
Primary Source ↗
Financial Loss $15.0M (15,000,000 USD)
Blockchain(s) Bsc

Incident Details

Attackers were able to take advantage of an exploit on the Ankr protocol to obtain around 183,000 aBNBc tokens for only 10 BNB (~$2,900). Before the Ankr exploit, which crashed the price of aBNBc, this many aBNBc tokens would have had a notional value of around $55.5 million. An issue with the price oracle on the staking platform Helio allowed attackers to borrow 16,444,740 HAY, a stablecoin intended to be pegged to the US dollar. The attackers then swapped those HAY for around $15 million in the BUSD stablecoin. Meanwhile, the HAY stablecoin lost its peg, crashing as low as $0.20.

Total loss estimated at $15,000,000.

Technical Details

Initial Attack Vector
Oracle price manipulation
Vendor / Product
Helio attack

Timeline

  1. 2022-12-01 Breach occurred
  2. 2022-12-01 Publicly disclosed