Garden Finance Faces $10.8M Loss After Recent Hack

Garden Finance has recently been hit by a significant hacking event, resulting in losses exceeding $10.8 million. This breach was brought to light by crypto investigator ZachXBT, who had previously criticized the platform for allegedly facilitating money laundering activities.

This incident is not an isolated occurrence in the cryptocurrency realm. Earlier this year, THORChain was implicated in allowing North Korean hackers to launder illicit funds, only to be targeted by those same hackers months later.

Just a few days ago, Garden Finance proudly announced that it had successfully bridged over $2 billion in tokens. However, the platform quickly faced scrutiny as several well-known investigators accused it of being a hub for money laundering activities.

ZachXBT reported that an alarming 25% of Garden's traffic could be traced back to dubious sources, while fellow investigator Tayvano claimed that criminals from North Korea were exploiting the platform extensively.

In a twist of irony, ZachXBT revealed the hacking incident shortly after raising concerns about the platform's operations. In a recent Telegram update, he stated:

“Garden Finance was likely exploited for $10.8M+ on multiple chains. An address related to the team sent a message on-chain to the alleged exploiter offering a 10% whitehat bounty. A few days ago, I pointed out how Garden Finance was ignoring victims.”

Initially, ZachXBT had estimated the losses at $5.8 million, but this figure was later revised upwards significantly. His subsequent comments indicated that “all freezable assets were quickly swapped,” leaving the precise amount of the losses somewhat ambiguous, but undoubtedly substantial.

According to Garden Finance, the hack impacted several blockchains, although they specifically mentioned Arbitrum. The company noted that “assets have been taken from us,” implying that user funds may not have been the primary target. As of now, there are no further details available regarding the technical specifics of the attack.

Interestingly, Garden Finance is not the first entity to endure a hack under such ironic circumstances. THORChain has faced accusations of laundering money on multiple occasions, including claims that it facilitated money laundering for North Korea’s notorious Lazarus Group.

Subsequently, criminals linked to North Korea stole $1.3 million from THORChain’s founder just months later.

Incidents of this nature often deter white hat hackers from pursuing investigations, as the ability to freeze stolen assets can be severely limited. If recovery of funds isn’t feasible, one must wonder what steps can be taken to rectify the situation.

While community-led investigations could gather evidence for potential future legal actions, the practicality of such efforts remains questionable.

Ultimately, Garden Finance is left hoping that its offer of a 10% bounty will entice the hackers to return the stolen assets.