Binance CEO Steps in After Theft Detected via Uniswap

On July 11, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (“CZ”) announced on Twitter that a “potential exploit” had been detected on Uniswap DEX platform, and a hacker had stolen a large amount of $ETH.

According to the wallet address provided by Zhao, the hacker had made off with more than 7,574 $ETH from Uniswap, worth nearly $8.5 million at the time, and laundered the funds through Tornado Cash.

Immediately after Zhao’s tweet, $UNI plunged 21% as the DeFi community spread the word that the pillar of the Ethereum ecosystem may have been hacked.

However, Uniswap inventor Hayden Adams later confirmed that the project did not have a vulnerability but that the theft resulted from a phishing attack plot in which hackers tricked holders of LP NFTs.

Zhao posted a screenshot of the conversation with the Uniswap team and apologized for the "false alarm.”

In fact, Metamask security researcher @sniko_ had detected and issued a warning about the phishing attack plot on July 11, saying that the hacker had sent fake airdrop offers to nearly 73,400 wallet addresses holding LP tokens on Uniswap.

The next day Zhao posted a Twitter thread reflecting on his handling of the incident.

He said when the problem was discovered, he tried to contact Uniswap and even Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin but did not receive an immediate response. Therefore, he decided to release information quickly to alert the community.

“We have to make decision with incomplete information, and try to strike the right balance. This was 12:45am (mid night). And I just came home from a gala dinner,” Zhao said.

Within 20 minutes after Zhao’s initial tweet, he was able to make contact with Uniswap and they were able to clarify that it was a phishing attack, not a hack, and that the Uniswap protocol was secure.

“Connected with the @uniswap team. The protocol is safe. The attack looks like from a phishing attack. Both teams responded quickly. All good. Sorry for the alarm,” Zhao tweeted.

Although the false alarm caused $UNI’s price to dip, Zhao’s efforts appeared to be a genuine attempt at protecting Uniswap and users. To his and Uniswap’s credit, both parties responded to the attack with speed and transparency.

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