On July 9, the cryptocurrency community was shaken by news that the decentralized trading platform GMX became the target of a serious cyber attack, resulting in estimated damages of around $42 million. According to Foresight News, a user on X with the handle DeFiyst was the first to discover and report the incident just about 45 minutes after it allegedly occurred.
Specifically, a suspected hacker exploited a security vulnerability on GMX to seize approximately $40 million worth of assets. Following the attack, the hacker quickly used a cross-chain method to transfer the stolen USDC from GMX to the Ethereum network. The entire amount was then converted into the stablecoin DAI, a move believed to be aimed at obscuring traces and reducing the risk of asset freezing.
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GMX later acknowledged the attack on social media, urging projects using GMX V1 to make immediate adjustments to prevent further losses. This incident has garnered significant attention from the decentralized finance (DeFi) community, especially given the increasing sophistication and scale of attacks on decentralized protocols.
GMX is a leading decentralized derivatives trading platform that allows users to trade cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and various other tokens with leverage of up to 50x without intermediaries. This incident serves as a wake-up call regarding security issues in the DeFi space.
