Decentralized exchange KiloEX has confirmed it has suspended usage of its platform and is tracing stolen funds after suffering a $7.5 million exploit. 

The exploit has been contained, with use of the platform suspended and an investigation underway, the KiloEX team said in an April 14 statement to X.

“The team has immediately suspended platform usage and is working with security partners to trace the flow of funds,” KiloEX said. 

“We are analyzing the attack vector and affected assets. We are collaborating with ecosystem partners to trace and recover funds where possible.” 

Source: KiloEX

A bounty program and a full report on how the exploit occurred is also in the works, according to KiloEX. 

In an update, the KiloEX team said it was collaborating with BNB Chain, Manta Network, and cybersecurity firms Seal-911, SlowMist and Sherlock in an effort spanning “multiple ecosystems.” 

“Our investigation has confirmed that the stolen assets are currently being routed through zkBridge and Meson,” KiloEX said. 

“We are urgently attempting to engage with both protocols to halt ongoing transactions and prevent additional losses.” 

KiloEX attacker exploited price oracle issue, say analysts 

Cybersecurity firm PeckShield said in an April 14 post to X the exploiter looted $7.5 million in total, $3.3 million Base, $3.1m opBNB and $1m BSC. 

The firm has speculated the exploit is likely a “price oracle issue,” where the information used by a smart contract to determine the price of an asset is manipulated or inaccurate, leading to the exploit. 

“Our initial analysis on one transaction exploit indicates a price oracle issue,” PeckShield said. 

Source: PeckShield

“The hacker exploits it to create a new position with initial given ETH/USD price of 100 and then immediately close the position with inflated ETH/USD price of 10000, netting the $3.12m profit in one single transaction.” 

Chaofan Shou, co-founder of blockchain analytics firm Fuzzland, also weighed in, speculating the exploit was likely due to a price oracle issue.

“Anyone can change the Kilo’s price oracle. They did verify that the caller shall be a trusted forwarder, though, but didn’t verify the forwarded caller,” Shou said. 

Shou added it was a “very simple vulnerability” when a user asked about the complexity of the exploit. 

Source: Chaofan Shou

The news has sent the KiloEX’s native token, Kilo, plunging over 27% to trade at $0.03596, according to CoinGecko. It’s still down over 78% from its all-time high of $0.1648, which it hit on March 27.

Related: Mantra CEO says OM token recovery ‘primary concern’ but in early stages

KiloEx was established in 2023 and is backed by Binance Labs, which is a lead investor and strategic partner. 

This exploit comes just days after the exchange announced a partnership with Dubai-based Web3 venture capitalist firm DWF Labs on April 13, which promised to expand KiloEx’s market presence and accelerate growth. 

On March 25, DWF Labs launched a $250 million Liquid Fund to accelerate the growth of mid- and large-cap blockchain projects and drive real-world adoption of Web3 technologies.

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Stablecoin issuer Tether has announced it intends to deploy its existing and future Bitcoin hashrate to OCEAN’s Bitcoin mining pool in an effort to strengthen the network’s decentralization.

“Deploying hashrate to OCEAN aligns with both our mining investments and our broader mission to fortify Bitcoin against centralizing forces,” Tether’s CEO Paolo Ardoino said in an April 15 statement.

Source: OCEAN Mining

While Bitcoin hashrate is decentralized, the block-building process conducted by mining pools is mostly centralized by a few dominant actors — most notably Foundry USA, AntPool and ViaBTC.

The OCEAN protocol attempts to decentralize this process by empowering miners to build their own block templates using their open-source DATUM protocol, reducing dependency on centralized intermediaries and enhancing censorship resistance, Tether said.

Tether’s deployment would leverage OCEAN’s DATUM software across all of its mining operations worldwide, including in rural areas in Africa. 

“By enabling on-site generation of unique block templates and aggregating thousands of rig connections with low-latency performance, DATUM ensures global competitiveness while promoting geographic and operational diversity,” Tether said.

Related: Inside the Trump-backed Bitcoin mining mega-deal with Hut 8

Tether currently deploys Bitcoin hashrate at sites in Uruguay, Paraguay and El Salvador, where the $144 billion stablecoin issuer is also headquartered.

Those initiatives emerged around the time Tether announced it would invest $500 million into Bitcoin mining in late 2023.

OCEAN was created by Bitcoin core developer Luke Dashjr in 2023 and has been backed by the likes of Block CEO Jack Dorsey. OCEAN also relocated its headquarters to El Salvador in May 2024.

Dashjr sparked controversy in December 2023 when he slammed Bitcoin Ordinals users for clogging the network with “spam.” However, he refuted claims that OCEAN censored the non-fungible token-like transactions.

OCEAN still has a lot of market share to capture

The OCEAN protocol currently mines between 0.2% to 1% of Bitcoin blocks, according to mempool.space data.

It has mined nine blocks over the last week, including two in a row at 892342 and 892343 on April 14.

However, OCEAN’s output remains a fraction of that seen by Foundry USA, AntPool and ViaBTC, which have mined 331, 199 and 161 Bitcoin blocks, respectively, over the same timeframe — accounting for over 66% of all blocks.

The Tether partnership would likely provide a much-needed boost to OCEAN’s hashrate, which has amounted to 18.3 exahashes per second (EH/s) over the last 24 hours.

OCEAN protocol’s Bitcoin mining statistics. Source: mempool.space

By comparison, Foundry USA’s hashrate over the same timeframe has exceeded 298 EH/s, leveraging hashrate from the likes of Bitcoin mining firms Hut 8, Bitdeer and Bitfarms.

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US President Donald Trump hosted El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele at the White House on April 14, with talks centered on trade and immigration, excluding Bitcoin from the public agenda.

Pressing issues of migration and bilateral security cooperation set the tone of Bukele’s first official meeting at the White House during Trump’s second term. 

According to a livestream shared by Bukele’s office on X, Trump raised the possibility of transferring US citizens convicted of crimes to prisons in El Salvador, urging Bukele to expand the country’s prison system to house more prisoners. “I said homegrowns are next, the homegrowns. You gotta build about five more places.” 

Source: Nayib Bukele

Since taking office, the Trump administration has deported hundreds of alleged foreign criminal individuals to El Salvador under a $6 million deal between the countries.

Trump also addressed the ongoing trade war unleashed by his administration on April 2, suggesting a potential temporary exemption for automakers aimed at easing the transition of their supply chains.

“I’m looking at something to help some of the car companies with it,” Trump told reporters present at the meeting, adding that the US auto industry “need[s] a little bit of time” to relocate production to the country. 

The meeting did not touch on digital assets and Bitcoin (BTC) policy — a flagship initiative of both presidents’ administrations. 

El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as legal tender in 2021, pioneering the Bitcoin strategic reserve approach later followed by Trump.

The US president positioned himself as a pro-crypto candidate during the 2024 election. On March 6, Trump signed an executive order to create a Bitcoin strategic reserve and digital asset stockpile in the United States.

The US holds nearly 198,000 BTC, valued at over $17 billion as of March. The reserve is primarily formed of Bitcoin seized in criminal and civil cases, including significant amounts from the Silk Road and Bitfinex hack cases.

Related: How much Bitcoin does the US hold, and where did it come from?

El Salvador’s BTC plans face IMF opposition

El Salvador signed off in December a $1.4 billion loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which included commitments to unwind Bitcoin-related initiatives and reduce public sector involvement with digital assets.

While the Salvadoran Congress amended its Bitcoin laws in January to comply with the deal, the government has continued its daily purchases of BTC. The country’s National Bitcoin Office’s tracker shows it currently holds 6,147.18 BTC, worth about $520.7 million at this writing. 

Related: Tether will relocate HQ to El Salvador after securing license