How much was lost in the ArbShibaAI hack?

The ArbShibaAI hack resulted in $68K in losses on April 18, 2023.

What attack technique was used in the ArbShibaAI exploit?

The ArbShibaAI exploit utilized Rugpull. Understanding this attack vector is critical for smart contract auditors and developers building secure DeFi protocols.

How can developers prevent similar smart contract attacks?

Preventing smart contract hacks requires a combination of secure coding practices, thorough security audits, and understanding common attack vectors like reentrancy, oracle manipulation, and access control flaws. Smart Contract Hacking (SCH) provides hands-on training to help developers and auditors identify and prevent vulnerabilities before deployment.

ArbShibaAI Hack

TOTAL LOST $68K

Low Apr 18, 2023 Rugpull

Affected Chain 2023 Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #1641 By amount stolen

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull Target category

Incident Overview

Quick Summary

ArbShibAI project was rugpulled by its deployer, who removed liquidity worth 68,350 $USD in $ETH.

Details of the Exploit

ArbShibAI is a copycat token trading on the Arbitrum layer-two chain. The project experienced a significant liquidity removal during its launch day. Investigation revealed that the token's deployer removed LP funds worth 32.7 $ETH or roughly 68,350 $USD at the current $ETH price from the pool and transferred them to their own address.

Block Data Reference

Scammer address:

https://arbiscan.io/address/0x3cb228f3…b44ba9

Liquidity removal transaction:

https://arbiscan.io/tx/0xf3aff3aa…86eb55

Incident Report

Protocol / Project ArbShibaAI

Date of Incident April 18, 2023

Attack Technique Rugpull

Classification Token

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull

Affected Token AISHIB

Official Website shibaai.club/

Protocol Twitter/X @ArbShiba_AI

Team Anonymous

Source Code Verified On-Chain

Market Context at Time of Hack

Token Categories

Memes Solana Ecosystem BNB Chain Ecosystem

Protocol Links

What the Attacker Needed to Succeed

Understanding the prerequisites for this type of attack helps auditors identify protocols that are most at risk and helps developers build better defenses.

Technical Knowledge Deep understanding of rugpull and Solidity and EVM internals

Capital Required Seed capital to cover gas and initial position setup

On-Chain Access Ability to interact with smart contracts and deploy a custom exploit contract

Protocol Analysis Identification of the exploitable vulnerability in ArbShibaAI's contract logic - root cause: token

Execution Speed Precise transaction ordering and timing to exploit the vulnerability within a single atomic block

Obfuscation Plan A strategy to launder and move stolen funds - typically through mixers, cross-chain bridges, or decentralized DEX swaps to resist tracing

What Auditors Should Check

Could this have been caught in audit? Hard to catch — private key / OpSec failures are outside smart contract audit scope

If you're auditing a protocol with similar architecture to ArbShibaAI, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (April 2023).

Verify all logic paths related to Rugpull are guarded by proper access controls and input validation
Review privileged functions (owner, admin, governance) for potential abuse vectors - centralization risks should be documented and bounded with timelocks or multi-sigs

Master these auditing techniques with hands-on labs and real exploit scenarios in the Smart Contract Hacking course.

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Sources & References

01
Source 1 https://twitter.com/PeckShieldAlert/status/1648245567087316992?s=20

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Rugpull
Root Cause Token
Year 2023

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