🌎 Hyperliquid Dismisses North Korea Infiltration Claims

Hyperliquid Labs Denies North Korean Hackers Infiltrated Its Layer-1 Protocol

Hyperliquid Labs, the team behind HYPE’s $28 billion FDV token, has refuted claims that North Korean hackers had infiltrated its layer-1 protocol. In a statement published on the project’s Discord server, the team clarified that “no vulnerabilities have been shared by any party” and invited white hats to submit bug reports as part of a “generous bug bounty program.”

Speculation and Debate

On December 23, a HYPE whale sold 1 million tokens amid speculation that North Korean hackers actively traded on the layer-1 blockchain. Security experts like MetaMask developer Taylor Manohan, also known as Tayvano, expressed concerns that hackers, likely part of the notorious Lazarus Group, may be prodding for weakness.

“DPRK’s trading career is…uh….going….. DPRK doesn’t trade. DPRK tests”

Data showed that DPRK-tagged wallets executed on-chain swaps and lost about $700,000. The matter became heated on social media, as HYPE holders bashed Manohan for spreading FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) around Hyperliquid.

Industry Leaders Weigh In

However, industry leaders like Polygon CISO Mudit Gupta, Coinbase director Conor Grogan, and podcaster Laura Shin rallied around Manohan, emphasizing the merits of her security advice. Gupta suggested that Hyperliquid tighten security by decentralizing its multi-signatory permissions and addressing central points of failure.

“I’d advise them to increase this threshold and eliminate the single point of failure instead of attacking security researchers.”

North Korean Hackers’ Crypto Heists

North Korean hackers have stolen nearly $2 billion from crypto users and protocols this year alone. The FBI warned that Lazarus was aggressively targeting digital asset trading venues back in September, and DPRK bad actors are suspected to have siphoned north of $4 billion in cryptocurrencies over the years.