MEXCIs Vitalik Buterin Behind The Recent $16 Mln Optimism (OP) Hack?
A hacker who stole 20 million Optimism (OP) tokens, has transferred 1 million OP to Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, PeckShield confirmed on Thursday. Moreover, the attacker delegated the 1 million OP voting right to Yoav Weiss, a security expert and hacker at Ethereum Foundation, as Vitalik had delegated airdrop to Weiss. However, Weiss has stated that he is not the attacker but believes it’s whitehat.
Hacker Sends 1 Million OP Tokens to Vitalik Buterin
A hacker managed to stole 20 million OP governance tokens from liquidity provider Wintermute’s wallet address. Wintermute provided an Ethereum (L1) multisig address, that had not yet deployed to Optimism (L2), instead of an L2 address. Wintermute began to deploy the L1 multisig contract to the same address on L2, but the hacker managed to deploy the contract before the company and stole 20 million OP tokens.
Interestingly, the hacker didn’t use the tokens to manipulate Optimism governance, instead sent 1 million OP tokens to Vitalik Buterin’s wallet address. Meanwhile, Yoav Weiss, who was explaining the attack, tweeted:
“And the plot thickens. As I was writing this explainer, the attacker delegated the 1M OP voting power to me: Thank you for delegating
Hint: no, I’m not the attacker and I don’t know who is. But now guessing it’s a whitehat.”
Meanwhile, the Wintermute team has urged the hacker to return the stolen Optimism tokens. Moreover, they are ready to work with the hacker for consulting opportunities or other forms of cooperation in the future. The liquidity provider offers a one-week time to the hacker to consider whitehat. Otherwise, Wintermute will return funds and track the hackers.
Optimism (OP) Price Falls 20% After the Hack
Ethereum scaling solution Optimism prices tumbled to an all-time low of $0.7142, falling more than 20% in the last 24 hours. The OP token prices, which are already underperforming after a failed listing, suffered another blow after the hack. At the time of writing, the OP price is trading at $0.8473, recovering some loss.
Wintermute hopes it is a whitehat attack as the attacker has only sold 1 million OP tokens, while the attacker still has 19 million OP tokens.
- Trump Insider Whale Reloads $430M Long on BTC, ETH Ahead of Tomorrow’s Fed Rate Cut Decision
- Breaking: $2.6B Western Union Announces Plans for Solana-Powered Stablecoin by 2026
- Trump Media Launches Polymarket Rival, Eyes $9B Prediction Market with Crypto.com
- Bitget Lists Common Token, Launchpool Offers 36M COMMON in Rewards
- Coinbase Prime Taps Figment to Boost Institutional Staking on Solana, Cardano, and Sui
- Pi Network Patterns Point to More Gains Despite Manipulation Claims
- HBAR Price Poised to Hit $0.30 as Canary Capital ETF Starts Trading.
- Will Solana Price Rally to $300 as Bitwise Launches $BSOL ETF?
- XRP Price Chart Patterns Hint at 2017-Style Breakout as Evernorth Acquires $1B XRP Ahead of Nasdaq Debut
- Cardano Price Eyes 80% Rally as x402 Upgrade Sparks Hope for AI Payment Expansion
- Polymarket Traders Bet Ethereum Price to Hit $5,000 as Bullish Pattern Forms
Why Trust CoinGape
CoinGape has covered the cryptocurrency industry since 2017, aiming to provide informative insights Read more…to our readers. Our journal analysts bring years of experience in market analysis and blockchain technology to ensure factual accuracy and balanced reporting. By following our Editorial Policy, our writers verify every source, fact-check each story, rely on reputable sources, and attribute quotes and media correctly. We also follow a rigorous Review Methodology when evaluating exchanges and tools. From emerging blockchain projects and coin launches to industry events and technical developments, we cover all facets of the digital asset space with unwavering commitment to timely, relevant information.
