Ahmed was reportedly accused of hacking into two decentralized exchanges (DEX) and convicted of hacking smart contracts for the first time ever. The former software engineer was also ordered to forfeit his digital assets along with his funds. In a statement, the U.S. Department of Justice said that Shakib Ahmed must also pay about $5 million to Nirvana and the unnamed DEX exchange.
Shakib Ahmed was initially accused of exploiting a vulnerability in the decentralized exchange's #smart contracts. He allegedly used false pricing data to inflate his commissions by more than $9 million. He then converted the commissions into #cryptocurrency and withdrew it. DEX was then able to contact him and he agreed to return $1.5 million USD if he did not contact the police.
A few weeks after the first hack, Ahmed carried out another attack on another DEX Nirvana Finance. He exploited a vulnerability in the platform's smart contracts, which allowed him to purchase tokens at a price below their original value. He then immediately resold the tokens to the platform at their original value; Nirvana contacted him and offered a $600,000 reward for fixing the bug, but he demanded $1.4 million. The parties were unable to reach an agreement, and he kept all the funds for himself.
After taking action, Ahmed attempted to cover his tracks using several methods, including transferring tokens from the #Solana #blockchain to #BTC . As a result, he converted the stolen funds into Monero tokens. However, despite the numerous steps he took to disguise his actions, he was arrested by law enforcement in July 2023.
In handing down the sentence, federal prosecutor Damian Williams noted the decision to send the criminal to prison. Today, Shakib Ahmed was sentenced to prison for the first ever case of smart contract hacking and ordered to forfeit all stolen cryptocurrency. Regardless of the novelty and complexity of the hack, our office and our law enforcement partners intend to trace the funds and bring the hacker to justice," he said.
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Adebayo likes to follow interesting blockchain projects. He is an experienced writer who has written numerous articles on cryptocurrencies and blockchain.
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