John Paul M. Joaquin Tech 09.20.2022 08:Sep AM EDT

Crypto Market Trader Wintermute is Hacked: How Much is Lost?

Cryptocurrency traders are still the favorite punching bag of crypto hackers and cybercriminals.

The CEO and founder of leading crypto market trader Wintermute have reported that the company's decentralized finance operations had been hacked, resulting in the loss of digital assets that could cost millions of dollars.

Although Wintermute's CEO and founder assured its lenders that it is "solvent," they can accommodate their request to recall their loans if they so wish.

Wintermute Crypto Hack Details

Wintermute CEO and founder Evgeny Gaevoy mentioned in a series of posts on Twitter that a hacker was able to compromise the company's decentralized finance operations, stealing digital assets worth around $160 million from doing so.

Gaevoy added that out of 90 assets that the hacker compromised, only two have been "for notional" over $1 million. He also mentioned that none of the two were more than $2.5 million, and as such, there shouldn't be a major selloff of any sort.

He also said that Wintermute's leadership would communicate with the affected teams as soon as possible.

Thankfully, Gaevoy reported that the hacker didn't compromise the company's centralized finance operation and over-the-counter verticals.

He added that despite the significant loss, the company is still solvent and that it still has twice what the hacker stole left in equity.

"If you have a MM agreement with Wintermute, your funds are safe," Gaevoy said in a tweet. "There will be disruption in [Wintermute's] services today and potentially for [the] next few days and will get back to normal after."

Furthermore, Gaevoy extended its support to Wintermute lenders who wish to recall their loans if they so choose following the breach.

In the meantime, though, Gaevoy and the company will treat the hacking incident as a "white hat" event, with him asking the hacker to get in touch with him, according to Coin Desk.

Gaevoy extended this invitation to the hacker as he and the company were able to track down their digital wallet minutes after his announcement with the assistance of ZachXBT, which describes itself as an "on-chain sleuth," per its official Twitter page.

Wintermute's CEO and founder then tweeted the address of the hacker's digital wallet and then shared a screenshot of the amount it had. According to the screenshot, the hacker has around $163 million worth of Ethereum, with about $48 million in the hacker's digital wallet and approximately $114 million in Curve.

Crypto Hackers' Next Best Victim

Wintermute is the latest crypto trader to be targeted and successfully hacked in recent months. According to Reuters, decentralized finance platforms and software are now the target of many hackers and cybercriminals due to them having little to no regulation, and that attacking them will result in no demand for compensation at all.

For those unaware, decentralized finance operations, are operations wherein crypto investors trade, borrow, and lend cryptocurrencies without using a central intermediary, per Bloomberg.