This DeFi platform just hacked itself

25. Februar 2021

This DeFi platform just hacked itself – to protect users‘ funds

The developers of Primitive, an Ethereum-based decentralised financial options protocol, have „white-hacked“ their own platform after a severe security vulnerability was discovered today.

„EMERGENCY ALERT @PrimitiveFi has white-hacked our contracts to protect users‘ funds after a critical security vulnerability was discovered. Further user action is required to protect funds,“ Primitive tweeted today.

According to the blog post, a critical vulnerability was discovered in some of Primitive’s smart contracts that allowed „infinite approvals“. This put all users who gave the vulnerable Bitcoin Bank contract permission to issue their tokens at risk of losing their funds.

With no way to update or pause these contracts, developers resorted to hacking their own platform.

„Although we have recused (sic) 98% of the funds, there is still a RISK for TOKEN IN WALLETS who approved the vulnerable contract, [the reset link] will secure the funds by bringing each of your token approvals to 0,“ the developers said.

However, users who have allowed the flawed smart contracts to spend their assets could still lose the tokens held in their wallets, the developers stressed. To protect them, affected users will have to reset the permissions on their tokens via a special page.

At the time of publication, no actual losses of funds to malicious actors using the exploit have been reported.

However, ETH costs are skyrocketing

Primitive allows users to earn returns by posting their DAI, Ethereum (To buy Ethereum via Paypal guide) and other DeFi tokens as collateral for options markets. The returns themselves come from trading fees on DeFi’s market maker platform SushiSwap.

„The protocol is used to create smart contracts with an immutable set of parameters that define the rules of the option. Any two ERC-20 tokens can be selected as the underlying (the asset to be purchased) or the quote (the token used to pay the strike price),“ Primitive’s developers said.

The booming DeFi sector has already seen several exploits and hacks in the last few months. Last November, for example, an attack on a pricing oracle on the decentralised lending platform Compound caused $100 million worth of liquidations.

ParaSwap aims to reduce its transaction costs with an aidrop from Enzyme Finance

12. Februar 2021

ParaSwap users get MLN tokens for trades over $ 250.

This is DeFi’s latest push to tackle soaring transaction fees.

MLN tokens are up 7% this week and 25% this month

The decentralized exchange platform ParaSwap gives users a boost to help them save on transaction fees by donating MLN assets from Enzyme Finance via aidrop.

Enzyme Finance was formerly known as Melon Protocol but was renamed in December 2020. DeFi Protocol allows individuals or organizations to manage their own wealth and that of others on a decentralized asset management platform. It was founded in 2015 and named Melon, which comes from the Greek word meaning “for the future”, due to its past ambitions.

The company has retained its MLN token , which is currently used to pay for various functions throughout the fund creation process and the investment lifecycle. MLN was one of the best performing DeFi assets of 2020, growing over 800% during the year.

According to a blog post , 1,000 tokens, valued at approximately $ 45,000 at the current price, will be distributed as airdro by ParaSwap to users to subsidize transaction costs and fees.

Savings ?

The offer begins February 10 and lasts for seven days, during which 1,000 MLN tokens will be distributed to users who trade at or above $ 250. The goal is to partially reimburse users who have spent too much on transaction fees.

Enzyme said refunds in the form of MLN tokens can be as high as 50%, but there is no guarantee and they can vary depending on demand.

ParaSwap is essentially a DEX broker that finds the best rates for token exchanges on a range of Ethereum- based DeFi protocols . There is no charge for using the protocol. Instead, the company collects 50% of the fee difference to amplify the growth and development of the protocol.

The offer is the latest in a series of steps DeFi protocols are taking to alleviate exorbitant transaction fees that BitInfoCharts says averages over $ 25.