Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) tweeted that there is a potential exploit in the Uniswap V3 protocol on the Ethereum Blockchain. He said that the hacker has already stolen about 4295 ETH. He disclosed that he used Tornado Cash to launder revenue. Uniswap’s altcoin project UNI plummeted after CZ’s tweet. Here’s what happened…
Phishing attack on Altcoin Uniswap
CZ used Twitter to inform Uniswap, which it claims is one of the few tokens listed without any direct contact information. Many appreciated CZ’s commitment to the overall security of the crypto ecosystem. Others criticized his tweet as “highly irresponsible.” As explained later by Uniswap and CZ themselves, the Uniswap protocol was completely secure. The exploit was actually a successful phishing campaign. While CZ apologized for the false alarm, many experts criticized him for such incidents that could cause market panic. Uniswap’s native token, UNI, has dropped 9 percent in the last 24 hours, as we reported on Kriptokoin.com.
Binance CEO explained that Binance’s intelligence system routinely scans public blockchains to reveal any potentially harmful behavior. Threat intelligence has tagged a number of processes to exhibit malicious activity. CZ’s tweet also provided the malicious party’s public address. Harry Denley, a security researcher at Metamask, revealed that a total of 73,399 addresses were the target of phishing attempts under the false impression of a UNI airdrop. He also explained that the phishing attempt appears to have been successfully from Uniswap V3: Positions NFT.
Samczsun, another security expert, described the attempt as a very successful phishing attack. The attacker then used a privacy tool, Tornado Cash, to launder the stolen proceeds.
Experts called CZ irresponsible
Chainlink’s community ambassador, ChainLinkGod.eth, described CZ’s behavior as irresponsible, noting that misinformation spreads very quickly. Frank Chaparro, host of The Scoop Podcast, shared similar sentiments. Panic and fears of misinformation are not unfounded. Great influencers repeated the news that Uniswap was hacked when it was actually a phishing attack. Two major crypto influencers, eth and ap3father, fell into the same trap and urged their followers to avoid using Uniswap.
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