NFT Music Platform Audius Treasury Hacked, Loses 18.5M Tokens

NFT Music Platform Audius Treasury Hacked, Loses 18.5M Tokens

• Audius confirmed that there were unauthorized transfers of AUDIO tokens from the community treasury.
• The scammer swapped the token via the Uniswap DEX for 705 ETH.
• The scammer’s wallet address showed that they had moved the stolen tokens via a private transaction protocol.

In the early hours of July 24, Audius, a decentralized music platform, confirmed that there was an “unauthorized transfer” of its utility token, AUDIO, from the community treasury.

Audius also noted that its developers have identified the problem’s source and taken steps to get things back to order. While they believe no funds were at risk, the project restricted all Audius smart contracts on the Ethereum network, including the token balances and transfers, to forestall further damage.

A crypto tracking and compliance platform, MistTrack_io, hinted that the estimated loss in revenue was 18.5 million AUDIO tokens, adding that the scammers swapped the funds via Uniswap, a decentralized crypto exchange, for approximately 705 Ethereum (ETH) tokens.

The @AudiusProject community treasury was recently exploited, leading to the lost of ~18.5M $Audio.

The funds were swapped via @Uniswap for ~705 $ETH and remains in the scammers address at this time.

0xa0c7BD318D69424603CBf91e9969870F21B8ab4chttps://t.co/OxG5KL65be pic.twitter.com/hxxWBxIma6

— MistTrack (@MistTrack_io) July 24, 2022

Noteworthy is that the transaction history of the scammer’s wallet address showed that they earlier received 10 BNB tokens via Tornado Cash, a private transaction protocol. They have consequently transferred all of the stolen ETH tokens to the protocol to elude captivity.

For context, secret transaction protocols, otherwise called mixers, are a go-to tool for cybercriminals as they help obfuscate the source of funds. According to Chainalysis, crypto mixer usage reached all-time highs in 2022, with nearly 10% of all funds sent from illicit addresses passing through mixers.

Nonetheless, legitimate use of mixers is for a case where financial privacy is essential, especially to people living under oppressive governments or who otherwise need the ability to make legal transactions anonymously.

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