Genius Token Hack

Reported loss $1.2M
Ethereum Fantom
Other

What happened

On May 5, 2024, Gnus.AI said its deployment account was compromised after an attacker accessed the team's private Discord communications. Cointelegraph, citing CertiK, reported that the attacker used the account to create a Fantom version of GNUS through Axelar, minted 100 million counterfeit tokens, bridged them to Ethereum, and sold them. Published loss estimates were about $1.25 million to $1.27 million.

How it happened

  1. The attacker obtained the private key for the team's deployment account after the reported Discord compromise.
  2. Using the account, the attacker copied the Ethereum token-manager deployment parameters to create a Fantom GNUS representation through Axelar.
  3. The attacker minted 100 million counterfeit GNUS on Fantom and bridged them to Ethereum.
  4. Selling the counterfeit tokens into the market extracted real assets and sharply reduced GNUS's price.

Protocol details

Classification Token / Infrastructure / Social Engineering
Protocol Type Exit Scam/Other
Affected asset / contract GNUS
Implementation language Solidity
Protocol links Website @GnusAi

Evidence

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