London based De-Fi platform company Euler has been the victim of a reported $196 million flash loan attack. A flash loan is an instant unsecured loan controlled by smart contracts that can be used to take advantage of different coin values on different platforms. It was pioneered in 2020 by the Ethereum lending platform Aave and is still a relatively new concept with a lot of potential kinks.
Details of the attack are still not clear, but it appears that the attacker used flash loans to borrow from Aave and Balancer, then deposited the money with Euler. The attacker then borrowed ten times the amount it had deposited, in an apparent violation of the smart contract. It is not yet clear whether the attack has finished, or whether more losses will be revealed.
Rebecca Moody, head of data research at Comparitech, commented that Euler is the largest crypto hack of 2023 so far, and the eleventh largest of all time. She also noted that flash loans account for 14 of the 43 attacks in 2023 so far, and more than half of the funds stolen ($207.5 million).
Euler was founded in September 2020 in London by Doug Hoyte, Jack Prior, and Michael Bentley (CEO). It has raised a total of $40.8 million over three rounds – the latest being a venture round (series undisclosed) in June 2022.
In summary, the London based De-Fi platform company Euler has been the victim of a reported $196 million flash loan attack. A flash loan is an instant unsecured loan controlled by smart contracts, and it appears that the attacker used flash loans to borrow from Aave and Balancer, then deposited the money with Euler. The attack is the largest crypto hack of 2023 so far, and flash loans account for 14 of the 43 attacks in 2023 so far, more than half of the funds stolen. Euler was founded in September 2020 in London and has raised a total of $40.8 million over three rounds.
Key Points:
• Euler has been the victim of a flash loan attack, losing an estimated $196 million.
• Flash loans are an instant unsecured loan controlled by smart contracts.
• The attack is the largest crypto hack of 2023 so far, and flash loans account for 14 of the 43 attacks in 2023 so far, more than half of the funds stolen.
• Euler was founded in September 2020 in London and has raised a total of $40.8 million.
