GMX Hacker Returns 3,000 ETH, 10% of Stolen Funds

The GMX hacker has returned 3,000 ETH, valued at approximately $9 million, to the GMX Security Council multi-signature address. This development follows an earlier return of 10.49 million FRAX by the same hacker, indicating a partial repayment of the stolen funds. The hacker initially targeted GMX's V1 GLP pool, stealing over $40 million worth of digital assets, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. The stolen funds were briefly held in USDC before being laundered through new wallets, raising concerns about the security of decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms.

On July 11, the hacker sent a message to the GMX deployer address on-chain, stating that the funds would be returned later. This announcement had an immediate impact on the market, with GMX briefly rising in response to the news. The return of 3,000 ETH is a significant step towards recovering the stolen assets, but it remains uncertain whether the hacker will return the remaining funds.

GMX had previously offered the attacker a 10% "white-hat" bounty in exchange for the return of the stolen funds. This bounty was intended to incentivize the hacker to return the assets and avoid further legal consequences. The return of 3,000 ETH suggests that the bounty may have been successful in encouraging the hacker to return at least a portion of the stolen funds.

The GMX hack highlights the ongoing challenges faced by DeFi platforms in securing their assets and protecting against cyberattacks. The attack on GMX's V1 GLP pool bypassed audited contracts, raising new concerns about the limits of DeFi security measures. The return of 3,000 ETH by the hacker is a positive development, but it does not address the underlying security vulnerabilities that allowed the attack to occur in the first place. GMX and other DeFi platforms will need to continue to invest in security measures and improve their protocols to prevent similar attacks in the future.