Loopscale Hacker Negotiates Return of Stolen Crypto
In a surprising turn of events, the perpetrator behind the recent $5.8 million Loopscale exploit is engaged in negotiations to return the stolen cryptocurrency. The Solana-based protocol announced that the hacker has offered to return the funds in exchange for a bounty.
The April 26th attack saw the theft of approximately 5.7 million USDC (USDC) and 1,200 Solana (SOL) tokens from two of Loopscale’s yield vaults. This incident led the DeFi protocol to temporarily suspend its lending services.
A message subsequently appeared on the Etherscan blockchain scanner, indicating the hacker’s willingness to cooperate. Loopscale confirmed this in an April 27th X post (source). The hacker proposed a 20% bounty and, as a gesture of good faith, returned 5,000 wSOL immediately.
Negotiations continue for the remaining stolen funds, as detailed in the public exchange on Etherscan (view exchange).
The Larger Context: While offering bounties is common practice among Web3 protocols, a significant portion of the over $1.6 billion in crypto stolen during Q1 2025 remains unrecovered (Q1 2025 Crypto Hack Losses). The Loopscale hack, impacting approximately 12% of its TVL, serves as a stark reminder of the risks within the DeFi landscape.
Loopscale, launched on April 10th, focuses on improving capital efficiency through direct lender-borrower matching and facilitating specialized lending markets. Following the attack, lending was temporarily halted, but loan repayments, top-ups, and loop closing have since been restored. Other app functions remain restricted while investigations continue.
Stay updated on the latest developments in the Loopscale hacker situation and the ongoing negotiations.