Counterexploit Salvages Stolen Funds From Platypus Hacker

After the initial hack, Platypus updated its pool contract to counterexploit $2.4 million in USDC from the hacker

article-image

DALL-E modified by Blockworks

share

Platypus, a DeFi stablecoin swapping protocol on Avalanche, was exploited for $8.5 million on Thursday evening.

The exploit occurred via a flashloan attack that took advantage of a flaw in its USP solvency check mechanism — which tricked Platypus’s smart contracts into thinking that USP was fully backed. USP is Platypus’ native stabletoken. 

Soon after the exploit, crypto community members came together to recover the funds. 

ZachXBT — a crypto scam researcher — said on Twitter that he tracked down the attacker’s wallet address after reviewing their own chain history across multiple chains.

“Your OpenSea account links directly to your Twitter and you liked a Tweet about the Platypus exploit,” ZachXBT tweeted.

Loading Tweet..

“We’d like to negotiate returning of the funds before we engage with law enforcement,” he wrote.

Platypus — meanwhile and with the help of BlockSec — updated its pool contract to counterexploit $2.4 million in USDC from the hacker.

“They updated it such that when the exploit contract deposited the USDC (which it is tricked to believe is a flash loan) as collateral for the minting of USP, they could trick the code that it owed 0 USDC back,” Twitter user nervoir said.

The USDC from the fake pool was sent to hardcoded addresses to avoid generalized front runners, nervoir tweeted. 

“The other assets will probably be harder to recover but given that they control the pool code they have significant control,” they said.

Loading Tweet..

Platypus’s stablecoin, USP, lost its peg to the dollar, dropping to $0.48. It then briefly recovered to $0.97, but has since dipped back down to $0.48, data from CoinGecko shows.

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) represent low-hanging fruit in a massive market ripe for Web3-driven disruption. The global CDN market was valued at ~$28B in 2024, and is projected to surpass $140B by 2034, (18.75% CAGR) underscoring the immense demand for efficient content delivery.

article-image

Firedancer begins delegating stake to Solana validators

article-image

A vote ending Monday could introduce a new layer of security for Ethereum’s largest liquid staking protocol

article-image

Framework’s Michael Anderson explains what tokens need in order to be successful

article-image

Conferences are pop-up innovation clusters—and filters for the riff-raff

article-image

Tariff front-running may have caused an artificial bounce in economic data earlier this year

article-image

Waka Flocka Flame-linked BaseDrop is raising some eyebrows