HyperLiquid Experiences $60M USDC Withdrawal Spike with North Korea Said to Be Looking into Perpetuals Exchange

Addresses linked to North Korean hackers, potentially probing the platform for vulnerabilities, have accumulated over $700,000 in losses, according to one analyst.

HyperLiquid, a decentralized exchange and layer-1 blockchain for perpetual futures (perps), has seen significant outflows of USDC amid growing concerns that North Korean hackers are engaging with the platform. The information was shared by Tay, a pseudonymous observer known for tracking the threats posed to crypto protocols by North Korea, in a post on X.

By 10:00 UTC Monday, a record $60 million in USDC had been withdrawn from HyperLiquid, according to data from Hashed Official’s Dune-based tracker. USDC, the world’s second-largest stablecoin, is used as collateral within the HyperLiquid ecosystem. The platform’s deposit bridge still holds $2.2 billion in USDC.

Tay reported that addresses linked to North Korean hackers have incurred losses exceeding $700,000 while trading on the platform. This suggests that the hackers may be testing HyperLiquid’s features and vulnerabilities in preparation for a future attack.

“DPRK doesn’t trade, DPRK tests,” Tay noted.

CoinDesk reached out to HyperLiquid for comment via X regarding the USDC outflows and the potential threat posed by North Korean actors.

Tay explained that they had previously contacted HyperLiquid two weeks ago, offering help in countering any potential security risks. “I want to underline that these DPRK threat groups are the most advanced and rapidly evolving. They are persistent and highly inventive. They also gain access to 0days, such as the recent Chrome patch,” Tay’s message to HyperLiquid read.

HyperLiquid has quickly become the largest on-chain perpetuals exchange, making up more than 50% of total on-chain perpetual trading volume, which amounted to $8.6 billion in the last 24 hours.

The platform launched its native token, HYPE, on November 29. Since then, HYPE has risen by over 600%, reaching $28.6 and briefly surpassing $10 billion in market capitalization. As of now, HYPE is ranked the 22nd largest cryptocurrency by market cap, according to Coingecko.

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