{"id":20762,"date":"2024-05-18T14:00:12","date_gmt":"2024-05-18T11:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coinengineer.io\/?p=20762"},"modified":"2024-05-18T10:34:35","modified_gmt":"2024-05-18T07:34:35","slug":"alex-labs-freezes-3-9-million-in-stolen-crypto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/alex-labs-freezes-3-9-million-in-stolen-crypto\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Labs Freezes $3.9 Million in Stolen Crypto"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On May 16, <strong>Bitcoin layer-2 developer Alex Labs<\/strong> announced the successful freezing of over <strong>$3.9 million<\/strong> worth of crypto, stolen from its BNB Smart Chain bridge. The funds were intercepted when the attacker attempted to cash out by sending them to various <strong>centralized exchanges (CEXs)<\/strong>. With the cooperation of these exchanges, <strong>Alex Labs managed to freeze the funds,<\/strong> preventing further losses.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_71 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 eztoc-toggle-hide-by-default' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/alex-labs-freezes-3-9-million-in-stolen-crypto\/#Recovery_of_Multiple_Tokens\" title=\"Recovery of Multiple Tokens\">Recovery of Multiple Tokens<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/alex-labs-freezes-3-9-million-in-stolen-crypto\/#Security_Breach_Details\" title=\"Security Breach Details\">Security Breach Details<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/alex-labs-freezes-3-9-million-in-stolen-crypto\/#Bounty_Offer_and_Future_Measures\" title=\"Bounty Offer and Future Measures\">Bounty Offer and Future Measures<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/alex-labs-freezes-3-9-million-in-stolen-crypto\/#Network_Upgrade_Proposal\" title=\"Network Upgrade Proposal\">Network Upgrade Proposal<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/alex-labs-freezes-3-9-million-in-stolen-crypto\/#Continued_Vigilance_and_Broader_Context\" title=\"Continued Vigilance and Broader Context\">Continued Vigilance and Broader Context<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Recovery_of_Multiple_Tokens\"><\/span>Recovery of Multiple Tokens<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The team has successfully recovered the complete balances for 17 different tokens, including \u201call aBTC, sUSDT, xBTC, xUSD, ALEX, atALEX, LiSTX, LUNR, SKO, CHAX, $B20, ORDG, ORMM, ORNJ, TRIO, TX20, and STXS.\u201d <strong>Among the exploited funds, $13.7 million worth of Stacks (STX) tokens were targeted.<\/strong> The attacker mistakenly sent \u201cabout 3 million\u201d of these STX tokens to CEXs, aiding in their recovery. A total of $3.7 million is now held at exchanges, while $9.6 million remains in the attacker\u2019s control.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Security_Breach_Details\"><\/span>Security Breach Details<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The exploit occurred when the attacker gained control of <strong>a private key linked to one of the bridge\u2019s \u201cvaults.\u201d<\/strong> Despite this breach, Alex Labs confirmed that \u201cthe smart contract code and infrastructure underlying ALEX were not compromised.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Bounty_Offer_and_Future_Measures\"><\/span>Bounty Offer and Future Measures<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><strong>The hacker is asking for a 10% bounty, but none of the prosecution will pay if he or she returns 90% of the stolen cryptoassets.<\/strong> A police report is in readiness, which will be tracked down following negotiations if they are not successful. Further, the team is also delving into using the $ALEX reserves managed by the Alex Lab Foundation as a \u201ctreasury grant program\u201d as part of the reimbursement plan for harmed users.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Network_Upgrade_Proposal\"><\/span>Network Upgrade Proposal<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>With stolen funds already making up the vast majority of the exploited STX tokens, the team could suggest a Stacks network upgrade of the frozen funds and minting new tokens for those harmed. And this way, though occasionally reminiscent of past events like the 2016 Ethereum network hack or the PopcornSwap event on<a href=\"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/bnb-chains-growth-fueled-by-meme-token-popularity\/\"> BNB Smart Chain,<\/a> the result has not always been success in refunding the investors.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Continued_Vigilance_and_Broader_Context\"><\/span>Continued Vigilance and Broader Context<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><strong>Alex Labs<\/strong> continues to have its eyes open, combing if you have seen attackers\u2019s addresses, fine-tuning \u201ccash-out alarms\u201d to arrest further smuggling of cryptocurrencies. This crash is not an isolated case, and other assaults on the cross-chain platform sharing the same cryptographic techniques have occurred. May 17 was the day that a cybercriminal named XLink erased $10 million of the company\u2019s assets, but luckily, it was recovered by a white hacker who returned the missing amount. Both attacks employed proven phishing methods to obtain a private key and conduct undisclosed transfers on crypto platforms.<\/p>\n<p>The preventive step undertaken by the Alex Lab points to the steep protection framework needed to help secure the oncoming threats of exploitation in crypto. The team&#8217;s attempt at recovery of the users&#8217; funds and possible compensation for them shows the clear commitment of the community towards the preservation of users&#8217; trust and ensuring the security of the community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On May 16, Bitcoin layer-2 developer Alex Labs announced the successful freezing of over $3.9 million worth of crypto, stolen from its BNB Smart Chain bridge. The funds were intercepted when the attacker attempted to cash out by sending them to various centralized exchanges (CEXs). With the cooperation of these exchanges, Alex Labs managed to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":20764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,2],"tags":[6203],"class_list":["post-20762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crypto-news","category-news","tag-alex-labs"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Alex Labs Freezes $3.9 Million in Stolen Crypto - Coin Engineer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/alex-labs-freezes-3-9-million-in-stolen-crypto\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alex Labs Freezes $3.9 Million in Stolen Crypto - Coin Engineer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On May 16, Bitcoin layer-2 developer Alex Labs announced the successful freezing of over $3.9 million worth of crypto, stolen from its BNB Smart Chain bridge. 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