Daily Flash | $5M Drained From Solana via Suspected Slope Wallet Exploit, Crypto Market Shows Lackluster Demands Despite Wall Street Relief Rally

Today's Headline - Suspected Slope mobile wallet Exploit Drains $5M from The Solana Network

Thousands of Solana users collectively lost about $5 million worth of SOL and other tokens from Tuesday night into early Wednesday.

According to the latest report from blockchain auditor OtterSec, at least 8000 wallets have been affected by the attack so far. Several Solana addresses have been linked to the attack, with those wallets amassing at least $5 million worth of SOL, SPL and other Solana-based tokens from unsuspecting users.

OtterSec also stated that the attacker seemed to be signing the transfers with the actual keys of the wallet owner, suggesting that there seems to be some sort of private key compromise. The wallet compromise seems to have affected users of Phantom, Slope, Solflare, and TrustWallet predominantly. Users have now been advised to move their assets to a hardware wallet or centralized exchange.

On Wednesday afternoon, the official Solana Status Twitter account shared preliminary findings through collaboration between developers and security auditors, and said that “it appears affected addresses were at one point created, imported, or used in Slope mobile wallet applications.”

Slope released its own statement just before the Solana Status thread. It acknowledges that Slope wallets were included in the hack, but does not specifically detail what happened, nor has the firm taken responsibility for the attacks.

Solana – the fifth-largest blockchain by total value locked (TVL), according to DefiLlama– has grown in popularity over the past year owing to its quick transactions and low fees. Its native token, SOL, dropped 4% in the hours following the attack.

Chart of the Day - TVL Performance on Multiple Networks in July

As of this writing,
Bitcoin (BTC) is changing hands at around $22,898, down 0.78% in the past 24 hours,
while Ether (ETH) is trading at $1,625, or down 0.55% during the same period.
Major altcoins are showing a mix of gains and losses, with Cardano (ADA) down by 0.32%, Solana (SOL) +1.02%, Polkadot (DOT) +1.34%, Avalanche (AVAX) +0.47%, and Cosmos (ATOM) +2.57%.

Notable gainers include:
Perpetual Protocol (PERP) at $1.28(+50%),
Optimism (OP) at $2.05 (+24.5%),
Lido DAO (LDO) at $2.6 (+14%).

Bitcoin (BTC) rose to daily resistance ($23,500) at the Aug. 3 Wall Street open as United States equities gained on relief over Sino-US tensions.

U.S. Stocks performed well on the day, meanwhile, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index gaining 1.56% and 2.59%, respectively, by market close. News that U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had begun a visit to Taiwan without repercussions from China buoyed the mood.

Investors have been reducing their risk exposure as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates and unwinds its record $8.9 trillion balance sheet. As a result, the Bloomberg Commodity Index (BCOM), which measures price changes in crude oil, natural gas, gold, corn, and lean hogs, has traded down 9% in the same period.

On a technical aspect, Bitcoin dropped to the 20-day EMA ($22,632) on Aug. 2, which is acting as strong support. The gradually up-sloping 20-day EMA and the relative strength index (RSI) in the positive territory suggest that bulls have a slight edge.

If the price turns down from the current level or the overhead resistance ($24,668), it will suggest that higher levels continue to attract selling from the bears. A break and close below the 20-day EMA could sink the BTC to the 50-day SMA ($21,344) and then to the support line.

Ether, on the other hand, Ether turned down and dropped to the 20-day EMA ($1,545) on Aug. 2 but the long tail on the candlestick suggests that the bulls aggressively purchased the dip.

According to analyst Rakesh Upadhay, the bulls will once again attempt to clear the overhead resistance zone between $1,700 and $1,785. If they succeed, it will indicate a potential trend change. On the contrary, the bears will have to sink and sustain the price below the 20-day EMA to bring the price down to $1,280/

Influencer of the Day - Hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen exits investment in crypto prop trading firm Radkl: The Block report

Point72’s Steve Cohen has exited his investment in crypto trading firm Radkl less than a year after investing in the firm, according to Bloomberg.

Radkl is led by Ryan Sheftel and was born out of New York Stock Exchange market maker GTS. The firm previously said that it planned to be an electronic market maker across crypto exchanges, while also trading on a bilateral basis with other market participants.

Radkl made news last September for having snagged the support of Cohen, a Wall Street titan who also owns the New York Mets baseball team. His involvement was seen as a sign of the traditional finance world’s growing interest in and acceptance of the industry. Then, prices were rising toward records; this year, a slump in digital assets and series of crises has left investors with losses and, for some, dimmed crypto’s allure.

A representative for Cohen’s hedge fund, Point72 Asset Management, declined to comment on Cohen’s decision.

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Author: Gate.io Researcher Peter L.
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