Holograph

Crystal

Blockchain tokenization platform Holograph’s native token fell as much as 79.4% after a malicious actor hacked the protocol’s operator contract and minted 1 billion HLG tokens worth $14.4 million.
Holograph’s X account <a href="https://x.com/holographxyz/status/1801332482262110301" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">confirmed</a> the hack on June 14. It revealed that it has since patched up the initial exploit and is working with cryptocurrency exchange partners to freeze the malicious actor’s accounts. 
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 Source: <a href="https://x.com/holographxyz/status/1801332482262110301" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Holograph</a>
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Holograph added that it has launched its own investigation and is <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/zachxbt-blockchain-crime-internal-revenue-service-united-states">contacting law enforcement</a>.
<h3 data-ct-non-breakable="true" id="how-the-hlg-exploit-happened">How the HLG exploit happened</h3>
The 1 billion HLG tokens were <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/how-to-create-and-launch-a-cryptocurrency-token-with-tokenmint">minted across nine transactions</a> by the hacker, taking advantage of a smart contract vulnerability — with the first mint on June 13 at 9:47 am UTC, <a href="https://etherscan.io/txs?a=0xff8c8747ab44f5bdaeb0520525bbada166e8a8b0&amp;p=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">according</a> to Etherscan.
Seven of them were sent in 100 million batches. 
It took only 10 minutes for HLG’s price to start tumbling. Within nine hours, the token fell 79.4% from $0.014 to a local low of $0.0029, while HLG’s market cap fell from nearly $22 million to $4.8 million in that timeframe, <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/holograph" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">according</a> to CoinGecko.&nbsp;HLG has since recovered slightly to $0.008.
<figure data-ct-non-breakable="true">
 <img src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-06/735d1f69-f6c6-43cc-9364-65d0dec70f5b.png" alt="" title="">
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 HLG’s change in price over the last 24 hours. Source: CoinGecko
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At current prices, the 1 billion HLG tokens are worth $7.4 million, but the hacker had already started converting the minted HLG into stablecoin Tether (<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/tether-price-index">USDT</a>) about four hours after the first exploit.
<figure data-ct-non-breakable="true">
 <img src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-06/79c7a083-1c02-467d-ae27-7b7a0d3d1b85.png" alt="" title="">
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 Transactions of the hacker minting 1 billion HLG tokens across nine transactions. Source: Etherscan 
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Related:&nbsp;<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/coingecko-confirms-email-provider-data-breach">CoinGecko confirms email provider data breach, over 23,000 phishing emails sent</a>
Matt Casto, cryptocurrency researcher at venture capital firm CMT Digital,&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/mcasto_/status/1801336933873791207" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">believes</a>&nbsp;the hacker was a “rogue dev” who funded Holograph’s operator contract address 26 days ago.
Holograph didn’t immediately respond to Cointelegraph on whether it knows the identity of the hacker.
Holograph is <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/omnichain-simplified-how-to-connect-data-and-assets-on-blockchain">based in the Omnichain ecosystem</a> and enables tokens to move between blockchains while maintaining the same contract address, thus allowing asset issuers to <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/omnichain-protocols-offer-the-answer-to-blockchain-fragmentation">index cross-chain data</a>.
It has received venture capital funding from the likes of Animoca Brands and Mechanism Capital.
Nearly $19 billion in <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-hacks-19-billion-13-years">cryptocurrencies have been stolen</a> since the first industry hack was reported in June 2011, a recent Crystal Intelligence report shows. 
Magazine: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/north-korean-hackers-private-keys-flash-loan-attacks/">Lazarus Group’s favorite exploit revealed — Crypto hacks analysis</a>

Holograph fell 80% in 9 hours after exploiter mints 1B additional HLG

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