Crypto Caper: $31M Seized in Hilarious Uranium Finance Fiasco! 💰😂

In a turn of events that could only be described as a jolly good romp, US authorities have managed to seize a staggering $31 million worth of crypto, all tied up in the rather unfortunate April 2021 hack of the now-defunct Uranium Finance. One can only imagine the tea and crumpets that were served during the planning of this operation! ☕️🍰

This delightful seizure was the result of a splendid collaboration between the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the ever-diligent Homeland Security Investigations in sunny San Diego, California. Prosecutors, in a rather cheeky Feb. 24 X post, shared the news with a flourish.

Now, while the authorities have been rather tight-lipped about the identities of these dastardly hackers, they have kindly requested that any victims of this caper reach out to them. A bit of a “come one, come all” invitation, if you will! 🎩

For those unacquainted, Uranium Finance was a BNB Chain fork of the automated market maker Uniswap, which made its grand debut on April 1, 2021. A rather unfortunate date for a launch, wouldn’t you say? April Fool’s Day and all that! 🤡

Alas, the website of Uranium Finance was shuttered post-haste after the attack on April 28, 2021, and its X account has been as silent as a church mouse since April 30, 2021. Victims have been left floundering without answers or a pathway to financial restitution, much like a fish out of water! 🐟

One of the more colorful characters from Uranium’s Discord channel suggested, with a wink and a nudge, that this may have been an inside job. Oh, the intrigue! 🕵️‍♂️

The hacker, in a display of sheer audacity, exploited bugs within the software code of Uranium’s v2 smart contracts, inflating the project’s balance by a factor of 100. Quite the mathematical feat, if I do say so myself! This little trickery allowed the scoundrel to abscond with a whopping $50 million, which included around $36.8 million worth of BNB and Binance USD at the time. Talk about a heist! 💸

The remaining stolen funds included a veritable treasure trove: 80 Bitcoin (BTC), 1,800 Ether (ETH), 26,500 Polkadot (DOT), 5.7 million Tether (USDT), 638,000 Cardano (ADA), and 112,000 “U92” tokens — Uranium’s native coin before it went belly up. Quite the haul, wouldn’t you agree? 🏴‍☠️

Our crafty hacker then converted the Polkadot and Cardano tokens into Ether, which were subsequently laundered through the crypto mixer Tornado Cash and whisked away to centralized crypto exchanges. A true masterclass in mischief! 🎭

But wait, there’s more! Hackers also took advantage of Uranium’s v1 platform pool on April 8, 2021, making off with an additional $1.3 million worth of BNB and BUSD. It seems they were on a bit of a shopping spree! 🛒

This entire debacle prompted Uranium to whip up a second version, which launched on April 16, only to be exploited a mere 12 days later. One can only hope they had a good laugh about it all over a pint! 🍻

2025-02-25 05:30

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