Infini takes legal action after $50 million stablecoin exploit

Stablecoin payment platform Infini filed a Hong Kong lawsuit against a developer and several unidentified individuals suspected of involvement in a hack that drained nearly $50 million in crypto assets.

On March 24, the Infini team sent an onchain message to the attacker, citing developer Chen Shanxuan and three unidentified persons with access to wallets involved in the exploit as defendants in the lawsuit. 

Infini said that the 49.5 million USDC (USDC) traced from the plaintiff’s funds are subject to an ongoing legal dispute and are contentious in nature. “Any subsequent holders of the said crypto assets (if any) once held in those wallets that they cannot claim the status of bona fide purchases without notice of the dispute,” Infini stated. 

The Hong Kong court sent an injunction order through an onchain message, a method to send legal notices to anonymous crypto wallets containing stolen funds. It also included a writ of summons that required the defendants to attend the return date hearing. 

Following the $50 million hack on Feb. 24, Infini offered a 20% bounty to the hackers responsible for the attack. 

In an onchain message, Infini said it had gathered IP and device information about the attackers. The platform said it’s constantly monitoring the addresses involved and will take action if necessary. However, the payment firm offered a bounty to the attacker if they returned 80% of the funds. 

“Upon receipt of the returned assets, we will cease further tracking or analysis, and you will not face accountability,” Infini wrote. 

Still, despite the warnings, the attacker did not return any of the funds from the address specified by the Infini team. 

Related: $1.5B crypto hack losses expose bug bounty flaws

The Infini attack came after Bybit suffered the largest recorded losses in a crypto hack. On Feb. 21, a hacker took control of Bybit's multisignature wallet, stealing $1.4 billion in crypto assets. 

In a statement, FearsOff chief operating officer Marwan Hachem told Cointelegraph that the Infini hacker carefully chose the timing of the attack. The cybersecurity executive said the attack came only a few days after the Bybit hack, and the timing “was not by chance.” 

“With everyone busy on the investigation and recovery efforts of the $1.5B, the Infini attackers perceived their chances of success to be higher at that moment,” Hachem told Cointelegraph. 

Magazine: Ridiculous ‘Chinese Mint’ crypto scam, Japan dives into stablecoins: Asia Express