In 2022, a hacker exploited the Wormhole bridge and stole $320 million worth of crypto. The hacker was initially eligible for an airdrop of W tokens, which could have resulted in them claiming $50,000. However, an investigation revealed that the Wormhole team had overlooked excluding the exploiter’s wallet addresses from the airdrop. Wormhole is a cross-chain protocol that allows users to send and receive crypto between various chains without the need for a centralized exchange. The hacker had compromised the platform by draining funds and swapping tokens like wETH for Ethereum, SOL, USDC, APE, SX, and more.
Following the attack, Wormhole rewarded a white hacker with $10 million for fixing a bug in its core bridge contract on Ethereum. In February 2023, Jump Crypto and Oasis.app executed a “counter exploit” on the hacker, successfully recovering $225 million in digital assets and returning them to secure wallets. Recently, it was discovered that four wallet addresses linked to the hackers were temporarily able to claim the Wormhole airdrop. These wallet addresses were flagged as associated with the 2022 exploit. If the hacker had claimed the airdrop, they would have received approximately $50,000 worth of W tokens. However, the hacker wallet addresses were later deemed ineligible for the airdrop.
On April 3, Wormhole announced an airdrop of over 675 million new W tokens, valued at $850 million, to eligible users. The airdrop includes more than 400,000 wallets that can participate in claiming the tokens, with 617.3 million tokens allocated for the initial community and ecosystem airdrop. The W token offers governance functionality, allowing holders to delegate their tokens for participation in governance votes on Solana or compatible Ethereum-based chains. This multichain governance system is a first for Wormhole. After the W token’s launch, its price surged to $1.66 before dropping to $1.31, representing a 20% decrease in one day. The asset briefly reached a market capitalization of $3 billion but has since settled at nearly $2.4 billion, making it the 54th largest digital asset by market capitalization.
The exploitation of the Wormhole bridge in 2022 was a significant DeFi attack, resulting in the loss of $320 million in crypto. The hacker responsible for the attack was initially eligible for an airdrop of W tokens, which could have earned them $50,000. However, the hacker’s wallet addresses were later deemed ineligible for the airdrop. Wormhole rewarded a white hacker $10 million for fixing a bug in its core bridge contract, and in 2023, Jump Crypto and Oasis.app executed a “counter exploit” on the hacker, recovering $225 million in digital assets. The recent airdrop announcement by Wormhole of over 675 million W tokens valued at $850 million is set to reward early users and provide governance functionality for holders across Solana, Ethereum, and other compatible chains.
Wormhole’s airdrop of over 675 million W tokens, valued at $850 million, is aimed at rewarding early users and providing governance functionality on Solana and compatible Ethereum-based chains. The hacker responsible for the 2022 exploit was initially eligible for a $50,000 airdrop but was later deemed ineligible. Jump Crypto and Oasis.app executed a successful “counter exploit” on the hacker in 2023, recovering $225 million in digital assets. Wormhole’s governance feature allows token holders to delegate their tokens for participation in governance votes, representing a unique multichain governance system. Despite a price surge to $1.66 after the W token’s launch, it dropped to $1.31, with a market capitalization settling at nearly $2.4 billion.
