Exactly protocol, a decentralized lending platform and credit market built on the Ethereum layer-2 network Optimism, has become the latest victim of security breaches happening within the crypto community. The platform’s losses currently sit at over $12 million worth of crypto assets.
Exactly Loses $12M
According to on-chain data and findings from blockchain security firms, the attacker used a cross-chain bridge exploit to facilitate the hack.
Exploiting a vulnerability in Exactly protocol’s smart contracts, the bad player used two exploiter contracts on Ethereum to transfer deposits to Optimism and bridged the stolen funds back to Ethereum. Other attacks contributed to the overall exploits.
An hour after the attack began, Exactly hacker had siphoned over $7 million worth of ETH. Currently, the losses, which include ETH and USDC, are over $12 million. A large chunk of the stolen funds has been bridged to a cross-chain bridge Across protocol. The hacker continues to hold most of the stolen assets in their custody.
The attack has affected Exactly’s records. Its total value locked (TVL), as revealed by blockchain analytics platform DeFiLlama, went from $35.8 million to $11.74 million within a few hours. The rapid downtrend suggests that users are involved in a mass exodus from Exactly protocol. EXA, the recently launched native cryptocurrency for the protocol, also saw a substantial 28.7% decrease, bringing its current trading price to $4.6.
Exactly Protocol Team Comments
After several alerts from blockchain security firms via Twitter, the Exactly protocol team has now made an official comment on the infamous exploit.
“We’re actively investigating a security issue within our protocol. To ensure user safety, the protocol is temporarily paused (you can still withdraw assets). Our team is on top of this and will share more details asap,” the firm stated in a tweet.
Exactly has now joined a cohort of DeFi protocols that have lost funds to bad players. For example, the DeFi yield farming aggregator Zunami parted ways with $2.1 million earlier this week.
