A significant DeFi hack recently shook the cryptocurrency world as UwU Lend, a decentralized finance protocol acting as a liquidity market, lost nearly $20 million in digital assets. The breach was disclosed by the on-chain security firm Cyvers on Monday, June 10, with an unidentified hacker swiftly absconding with over $20 million in assets within a short span.

Meir Dolev, co-founder and CTO of Cyvers, emphasized the severity of the exploit, noting that various assets including WBTC and DAI were siphoned from the pools and converted into ETH. He stated, "The ongoing attack has surpassed the $20 million mark, marking a significant incident."

Further investigation revealed that the attacker received funds from the crypto mixing protocol Tornado Cash and executed three malicious transactions. "The attacker exploited the UwU lending contract with three transactions in six minutes, draining around $20 million," Dolev confirmed. The funds used for the attack were deposited via Tornado Cash two days earlier.

This alarming incident has sparked widespread discussion about the rising number of cryptocurrency hacks. In the first quarter of 2024 alone, $542.7 million worth of digital assets were stolen—a 42% increase compared to the same period in 2023. Experts attribute this rise to the soaring valuation of cryptocurrencies, which attracts more malicious actors, and the increasing focus on exploiting vulnerabilities like private key leaks rather than just smart contracts.

"The increasing value of cryptocurrencies has drawn more malicious actors since early 2024," observed Mriganka Pattnaik, co-founder and CEO of crypto risk and intelligence platform Merkle Science. He noted that hackers are increasingly targeting vulnerabilities outside of smart contracts, such as private key exposures, resulting in substantial financial losses.