More than $5 million has been stolen from the Hedera Network after hackers exploited the DeFi lending platform Sauce Protocol. The attack caused the HBAR coin price to fall by nearly 3% as the stolen crypto was quickly moved to Ethereum.
So far, the attacker has not been identified, and the Hedera Network team has not released an official statement.
Sauce Protocol Exploit Drains Over $5 Million
According to PeckShield, the attacker exploited the Sauce Protocol by manipulating its price oracle after depositing collateral into the lending platform.
By changing asset prices, the hacker borrowed nearly 6.6 million USDC and 35 million HBAR before swapping the stolen tokens on SaucerSwap.
The attacker then used LayerZero to bridge the stolen funds from the Hedera Network to Ethereum, making it more difficult to recover the assets.
The total loss is estimated at more than $5.25 million, with the funds already transferred off the Hedera Network.
Stolen Funds Moved to Ethereum
On-chain investigator Specter said the hacker first stole the funds from Sauce Protocol on the Hedera network. After that, the attacker used LayerZero to transfer the stolen crypto from Hedera to Ethereum, where it is easier to swap and move the funds.
The hacker’s Ethereum wallet now holds around 2,068 ETH, worth nearly $3.7 million, along with 15.58 WBTC, bringing the total stolen assets to more than $5 million.
Blockchain records also show the attacker making several transactions, repeatedly moving Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) to another wallet, likely an attempt to hide the money trail.
More than $5 million has been stolen from Hedera’s DeFi ecosystem after hackers exploited Sauce Protocol in an oracle manipulation
Before carrying out the exploit, the hacker funded the wallet 0x9A4…6a494 with just 1 ETH from Tornado Cash. Attackers often use Tornado Cash to cover their tracks before launching an exploit.
HBAR Coin Price Falls After Attack
Following the news, HBAR dropped around 3.5%, falling to nearly $0.0670 as investors feared a more serious breach.
Although the exploit targeted Sauce Protocol rather than the Hedera network itself, the incident has raised concerns across decentralized finance (DeFi) applications built on the blockchain.
The investigation is still ongoing, yet there is no official announcement or post from the Hedera network team.
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