North Korean Hackers Cause Hyperliquid to See Largest Outflow in a Day

Key Points:

• Hyperliquid, a crypto-derivatives platform, experienced a record $112 million outflow amid concerns that North Korean hackers were trading on the exchange.
• Security experts identified suspicious wallet addresses linked to the hackers, sparking debate on social media, with some criticizing the panic caused.

According to Bloomberg, Hyperliquid, a fast-growing crypto-derivatives trading platform, witnessed its largest-ever daily outflow on Monday, with over $112 million of USDC stablecoins leaving the platform.

Read more: North Korean Hackers Seized $2.67 Million in Illicit Fund by US Government 

Hyperliquid Faces Massive Outflow Amid North Korean Hacker Allegations

The incident comes in the wake of allegations that North Korean hackers have been trading on the exchange since October.

Taylor Monahan, a security expert with MetaMask, a digital wallet provider, posted details of suspected hacker wallets on social media. She said the transactions might be part of the modus operandi of North Korean hackers to test systems for vulnerabilities on platforms such as Hyperliquid. Though the findings by Monahan have created a furore, some of the users of Hyperliquid criticized her for spreading unnecessary panic.

The wave of withdrawals saw the value of HYPE, Hyperliquid’s native token, fall 20%, according to CoinGecko. This swift decline and the outflow raised questions over the security of the question platform in case it suffered any possible vulnerabilities.

Platform Still Strong in DeFi Despite Controversy

Hyperliquid was a hybrid system that combined the attributes of both centralized and decentralized exchanges. It found great popularity in DeFi. Unlike purely centralized exchanges like Binance, Hyperliquid is more transparent because it works on its blockchain.

However, at the same time, it is pretty fast with transaction times, which is characteristic of centralized exchanges due to the closed team of developers maintaining the blockchain ledger.

Despite this recent setback, Hyperliquid remains one of the most vital players in DeFi, with an average daily trading volume of $8.8 billion, according to Dune Analytics.

The data sets Hyperliquid at an enviable position, having recently hit a record 24-hour volume of more than $15 billion, a feat that has shown how fast it’s growing in the crypto ecosystem.