Cypher protocol contributor “Hoak” confessed in a public statement to stealing nearly $500,000 in community funds to fuel his growing gambling habit. Twitter On Tuesday.
“I know that nothing I say or do will make things better, other than probably rotting in jail,” the anonymous developer wrote. “To address the elephant in the room: The allegations are true. They stole the funds and squandered them through gambling. I didn’t get away with it and no one else did.”
My statement about the situation.
TLDR: I screwed up too hard, too many times. I don’t expect anyone to forgive me or let this go unpunished. https://t.co/CNq8UFKCkc
— Hoak (@hoakbuilds) May 14, 2024
According to figures shared by Cypher Protocol core contributor “Barrett,” the stolen funds included $314,674 in USDT, USDC, and Solana (SOL) transferred to Binance through wallets associated with Hoak. The same wallet also accumulated over $184,077 in ETH, RLB, ORCA, RAY, USDT, USDC, BONK, JitoSOL, mSOL, and WSOL.
Hoak’s public confession appears to have been prompted by a heated investigation launched on the Cypher Protocol Discord server. Cypher Protocol is a cross-margin decentralized exchange on the Solana blockchain.
“First and foremost, I would like to apologize profusely to all parties affected. I know there is nothing I can do to undo my actions at this point and I will have to face the consequences. A form of victimization of myself,” Hoak wrote. “But this is the culmination of what has snowballed into serious gambling addiction and a number of other psychological factors that have probably gone unchecked for too long.”
In his confession, Hoak said the circumstances leading to the theft of the Cipher protocol date back to an unexplained incident at the first Solana Breakpoint conference in November 2021.
“The victims were my brother and Max from Mango DAO,” Hoak wrote. “As it turned out, what other people did to me and my brother was the same thing I ended up doing to Max.”
The Mango Markets hack in October 2022 allowed thieves to steal $100 million in funds.
According to Hoak, after an unnamed previous project failed to get off the ground, he began working with Cypher Protocol, which provides access to margin spot and derivatives markets and borrowing and lending services.
“I found my footing with Cypher,” he recalled. “These people became family to me, I loved them and worked and worked with the mission we had. I tried to innovate within the DEX design space and failed, did more work and went broke.”
Barrett, a key contributor to Cypher Protocol, later posted details of the theft, including Hoak’s wallet address, on Twitter, claiming the theft occurred over 36 withdrawal transactions over several months.
“This makes me incredibly sad,” Barrett wrote. “We never thought it would be possible for a key contributor who tried to rebuild the project after the (Mango) exploit to be the one who stole the funds from the buyback agreement.”
As Barrett explained, the theft was first detected when members of the Cypher Protocol Discord server reported being unable to withdraw their funds, which Hoak said he would fix. However, users reported that they were unable to withdraw after the deadline provided by Hoak.
“I have contacted law enforcement with the information in the document below,” Barrett said, posting a link to a Google Docs document containing extensive details about the theft.
I helped their team with the Cypher exploit last year, so I have all his information from when we were going through the process.
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) May 14, 2024
Internet Sleuth ZachXBT said on Twitter that he knew Hoak, adding that he helped the Cypher Protocol team attack him in 2023. As a result of that collaboration, ZachXBT said it had Hoak’s personal information.
when decryption When asked if ZachXBT intended to share that information with law enforcement, he responded, “Yes, as necessary.”
“I have absolutely no energy left at this point and considering that no one will want anything to do with me after all of this, there is no way forward and I truly believe it is over,” Hoak wrote. “Whatever happens next is in God’s hands.”
His Twitter post ended with, “Sorry for ruining it.”
Hoak and Barrett did not immediately respond to requests for comment. decryption.
editor Ryan Ozawa.
