In a bold move to track down a cunning hacker, UwU Lend, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, has announced a $5 million bounty in Ether (ETH) for anyone who can identify and locate the attacker responsible for its recent exploits. The bounty was announced on June 13 after the hacker failed to return the stolen funds by the negotiated deadline of June 12, 5:00 pm UTC.

The hacker, who used the wallet address "0x841…21f47," first struck on June 10, draining $20.3 million through a price manipulation exploit. Despite UwU Lend's initial request for the hacker to return 80% of the stolen funds, promising no legal action if the request was honored, the hacker did not respond and proceeded with a second exploit on June 13, stealing an additional $3.7 million.

In response to the second attack, UwU Lend issued an on-chain message to the hacker:

"Repayment deadline for the funds you stole has passed. $5 million bounty to the first person to identify and locate you."

The bounty, which will be paid out in Ether, will be awarded before any funds are recovered or charges are laid. Despite these attacks, UwU Lend has reimbursed victims from the first exploit, with over $9.7 million already repaid.

The recent exploits are part of a larger trend of cyberattacks in the crypto industry. According to a recent report by Immunefi, the crypto industry saw approximately $473.22 million in losses from 108 incidents in May 2024. This represents a 12% decrease from May 2023 and a 28% decrease from the previous month.

A June 13 threat intelligence report from Google Cloud has also exposed a significant wave of cyberattacks by North Korean hackers targeting cryptocurrency exchanges, fintech companies, and individuals in Brazil. The report identifies the North Korean hacking group Pukchong (also known as UNC4899) as the primary culprit, using malicious software disguised as a crypto price tracker to gain control over victims' systems.

UwU Lend's $5 million bounty is a bold move to track down the hacker and bring them to justice. The crypto community is eagerly waiting to see who will be the first to identify and locate the attacker and claim the bounty.