Avalanche suffered a 371k USDC exploit attack

A hacker deployed a particular, compromised contract to obtain a $50 million flash loan to manipulate the AVAX/USDC pool price.

Hackers still can't get complacent and continue to cash in on DeFi-protocol vulnerabilities. In this case, the hacker classically deployed his smart contract using the quick credit feature. The amount of credit is an impressive $51 million.

Here's the Avalanche-based protocol, Nereus Finance, succumbed to the hack, causing it to unload $371,000 to USDC.

The cybersecurity firm, CertiK first saw the exploit back on Tuesday. The firm also immediately pointed out that the attack affected pools associated with DEX (Decentralized Exchange), Trader Joe's, and Curve Finance.

As a result, the hacker managed to steal 998,000 units of Nereus' native token, NXUSD. Leaving a deposit of $508,000 while exchanging Nereus tokens on various pools. After all the transactions, the hacker managed to cash in $371,406.

"While this exploit is a nasty incident - it's not uncommon for protocols facing this kind of battlefield challenge," according to a statement from Nereus.

The Nereus team is now trying to identify the hacker and trace the funds. They has offered a 20% reward for the return of the funds with no questions asked.