Nexera Protocol Hacked: $1.5 Million in NXRA Tokens Stolen in Latest DeFi Security Breach

Nexera Protocol Hacked: $1.5 Million in NXRA Tokens Stolen in Latest DeFi Security Breach

The Nexera protocol has fallen victim to a security breach, resulting in the loss of $1.5 million worth of digital assets in yet another smart contract exploit.

Nexera, a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform designed to bridge the gap between DeFi and traditional finance, was hacked for $1.5 million in Nexera (NXRA) tokens, as revealed in an Aug. 7 post on X by Cyvers:

“Our system has detected a suspicious transaction involving your proxy contract. An unidentified address took control of your proxy contract and upgraded it. Shortly thereafter, the address used the withdraw admin function to transfer all $NXRA tokens.”

Although the $1.5 million loss is relatively minor, it comes just a day after the Ronin Network was compromised for $9.8 million worth of Ether by a suspected white hat hacker, who returned all the stolen funds within hours.

In a clear demonstration of malicious intent, the Nexera hacker has made off with the stolen funds.

According to Cyvers, the hacker has already begun liquidating the NXRA tokens for Ether:

“The address is currently converting the stolen tokens into $ETH, with some funds already bridged to the $BNB chain. The total estimated loss is approximately $1.5 million.”

Hackers frequently convert stolen tokens into Ether to obscure the trail by laundering the funds through cryptocurrency mixers like Tornado Cash, making it more challenging for cybersecurity experts to trace the origins.

Nexera’s hacker has been linked to previous exploits, as noted by an on-chain investigator.

On-chain data suggests that the perpetrator of this attack has been involved in prior incidents of private key compromises. On Aug. 7, on-chain investigator ZachXBT shared in a Telegram post:

“The attacker is connected on-chain to recent private key compromise incidents involving platforms like SpaceCatch, Concentric Finance, OKX DEX, Serenity Shield, Reach, and several others.”

This exploit comes nearly three weeks after a hacker stole over $230 million from WazirX, an Indian cryptocurrency exchange, marking the second-largest cryptocurrency hack of 2024.