How much was lost in the ProTradeX hack?

The ProTradeX hack resulted in $698K in losses on March 07, 2023.

What attack technique was used in the ProTradeX exploit?

The ProTradeX 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.

ProTradeX Hack

TOTAL LOST $698K

Low Mar 07, 2023 Rugpull

Affected Chain 2023 Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #924 By amount stolen

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull Target category

Incident Overview

Quick Summary

ProTradeX was rugpulled by the token deployer. The scammer profited for 698,147 $USD and moved the funds into TornadoCash.

Details of the Exploit

ProTradeX is a BEP20 token trading in the smart contract directly. The token's symbol is PTD and can't be confused with other similar tokens. The token deployer collected the funds from multiple EOA addresses using unverified and malicious smart contracts and then moved them through TornadoCash.

The total amount reached 698,147 $USD. The remaining $PTD tokens were transferred to another EOA address which deployed a new $USDT/$PTD pool with an unverified source code, probably to continue to scam users.

Block Data Reference

Scammer addresses:

https://bscscan.com/address/0x6b63f5de…7d8743

https://bscscan.com/address/0xf7ebcea3…8db735

Second pool:

https://bscscan.com/address/0xbb611557…cc1345

Draining transaction example:

https://bscscan.com/tx/0xbe9eccb9…a5f040

Moving transaction:

https://bscscan.com/tx/0x7a74b47c…5a74d7

Incident Report

Protocol / Project ProTradeX

Date of Incident March 07, 2023

Attack Technique Rugpull

Classification Token,Other

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull

Affected Token PTD

Official Website protradex.finance

Protocol Twitter/X @Pro_Tradex

Team Anonymous

Source Code Unverified

Market Context at Time of Hack

Token Categories

DeFi Ethereum Ecosystem Lending & Borrowing Polygon Ecosystem Arbitrum Ecosystem BNB Chain Ecosystem Real World Assets Protocols DWF Labs Portfolio

Protocol Links

GitHub Discord

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 ProTradeX's contract logic - root cause: token,other

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 ProTradeX, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (March 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/anciliainc/status/1633256447231541248

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Rugpull
Root Cause Token,Other
Year 2023

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