Nirvana Stablecoin Fell 99% After A Hacker Attack

It became known that the cost of the Nirvana (ANA) stablecoin based on the Solana network fell by 99% in a day. This happened after hackers attacked the protocol and made an exploit. Users lost about $3.5 million, according to preliminary estimates.

Social media users have confirmed that Nirvana’s decentralized financial yield protocol fell victim to cybercriminals on July 28, 2022. Representatives of the blockchain security company PeckShield said: it is not yet possible to name the exact amount of stolen funds, and it is worth relying on the initial data.

They explained that a group of criminals behind the hack used a $10 million flash loan smart contract in USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin to mint ANA tokens for a similar amount from Solent’s main pool vault. The instant loan attack is a short pump and dump of assets that use instant and unsecured borrowing available on decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms.

The oracle channel of the protocol was hijacked to increase the supply of ANA tokens artificially, and then the hacker converted the entire amount into USDCet, thereby transferring funds to an Ethereum (ETH) network wallet account using the Wormhole bridge. In the end, $3.49 million was stolen, but Nirvana Finance may have lost even more.

Representatives of the company have so far declined official comments, while Solend confirmed the fact of the exploit. They stated that they are in touch with the leading developers of the protocol and are trying to fix the problem. Market experts noted that this is far from the first attack on DeFi protocols using instant loans.