In a riveting saga that has captivated both the crypto world and law enforcement, a 22-year-old Canadian hacker, Andean Medjedovic, is at the center of allegations involving the theft of $48.8 million in cryptocurrency from the DeFi protocol, KyberSwap. According to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, Medjedovic leveraged a vulnerability, or what he termed a “glitch,” within KyberSwap’s automated market maker (AMM) to engineer this staggering crypto heist.
The indictment, unsealed in a Brooklyn federal court earlier this week, lays out a sophisticated scheme where Medjedovic allegedly manipulated protocol vulnerabilities in 2023. By borrowing massive amounts of crypto, he is accused of artificiating price movements within KyberSwap’s liquidity pools (LPs). This maneuver allegedly enabled him to extract $48.8 million across multiple blockchains by executing precise trades that triggered the supposed glitch.
Further compounding his audacity, Medjedovic allegedly tried to extort the developers at KyberSwap. The demands purportedly included entrusting him with control over the protocol and its decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), in exchange for half of the purloined crypto assets. Prosecutors elaborate that after the alleged theft, Medjedovic attempted to obscure the crypto trail, laundering the assets through bridge protocols and digital asset mixers—techniques often employed to mask the origin and destination of stolen funds.
Adding to his alleged repertoire of DeFi exploits, Medjedovic is also charged with targeting another DeFi protocol, Indexed Finance, back in 2021, netting approximately $16.5 million in crypto.
The charges against Medjedovic are grave, covering wire fraud, computer hacking, and attempted extortion. As authorities intensify their search, the young hacker remains at large, eluding capture while possibly plotting his next move.
This case underscores the vulnerabilities inherent within the burgeoning DeFi sector and the relentless pursuit by cybercriminals to exploit them. It serves as a stark reminder of the ever-present need for robust security measures and vigilant oversight in the dynamic world of decentralized finance.
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