How much was lost in the ArcadeEarn hack?

The ArcadeEarn hack resulted in $15K in losses on August 26, 2022.

What attack technique was used in the ArcadeEarn exploit?

The ArcadeEarn 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.

ArcadeEarn Hack

TOTAL LOST $15K

Low Aug 26, 2022 Rugpull

Affected Chain 2022 Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #1910 By amount stolen

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull Target category

Incident Overview

Quick Summary

A soft rug pull has been identified in connection with the ArcadeEarn project. The team made away with a profit of $15k.

Details of the Exploit

The token creator made a liquidity pool using 16M $ArcadeEarn tokens and 20k $USDT. Then the tokens were dumped by the scammer address (B), taking a profit of $15k: https://bscscan.com/tx/0x33fca69b…387450

Block Data Reference

Involved addresses:

- Scammer address (A), token deployer: https://bscscan.com/address/0x82519bb5…f963f0

- Scammer address (B): https://bscscan.com/address/0x204ef28c…c8dc47

Transactions:

- Creating lp: https://bscscan.com/tx/0x71cc9e9e…2e74da

0x81d3ec77438b4e99aa99ba25b1dbc3fea317fe3b0x81d3ec77438b4e99aa99ba25b1dbc3fea317fe3b

Incident Report

Protocol / Project ArcadeEarn

Date of Incident August 26, 2022

Attack Technique Rugpull

Classification Token

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull

Affected Token ArcadeEarn

Team Anonymous

Source Code Unverified

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 ArcadeEarn'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 ArcadeEarn, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (August 2022).

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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Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Rugpull
Root Cause Token
Year 2022

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