Whitehat Developer Recovers $2 Million from Stuck 2016 Ethereum ICO Funds
Whitehat developer unlocks $2 million stuck in a 2016 Ethereum ICO contract for nine years
Image: Coindesk
A security researcher, known as 0xflorent, has successfully unlocked approximately $2 million in ether that was trapped in a 2016 HongCoin ICO contract for nine years. This recovery benefits 48 original investors who can now reclaim their funds after exploiting an unpatched flaw in the contract.
- 010xflorent discovered an integer-overflow flaw in the HongCoin token sale contract, allowing him to unlock 1,003.62 ETH (around $2 million).
- 02The funds had been inaccessible for nine years due to a bug in the contract's refund function, which failed to process refunds correctly.
- 03A total of 48 original investors are eligible to claim their funds, with two already retrieving 96.5 ETH worth approximately $193,000.
- 04The recovery was a collaborative effort, requiring the HongCoin team's approval and involvement in executing the unlock transactions.
- 05This incident follows another recovery by 0xflorent just eight days prior, highlighting ongoing vulnerabilities in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols.
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In a remarkable recovery effort, security researcher 0xflorent has unlocked approximately $2 million in ether that had been trapped in a 2016 HongCoin ICO contract for nine years. The funds, totaling 1,003.62 ETH, were inaccessible due to a bug in the contract's refund function that failed to process refunds for investors. By exploiting an unpatched integer-overflow flaw in an admin function, 0xflorent coordinated with the holders of HongCoin's multisig wallet to reset token balances and bypass a refund cap that had blocked larger withdrawals. This recovery enables 48 original investors to reclaim their funds, with two investors already retrieving 96.5 ETH valued at around $193,000. This incident marks the second recovery effort by 0xflorent in just over a week, following another successful return of 19.329 ETH from a different ICO. The recovery comes amid a troubling trend of DeFi exploits, which have seen hundreds of millions of dollars drained from various crypto protocols.
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The recovery allows investors to reclaim their lost funds, potentially restoring confidence in the integrity of ICOs and smart contracts.
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