HyperLiquid, a layer-1 blockchain and decentralized exchange for perpetual futures (perps), has experienced a notable influx of USDC stablecoins amid speculation that hackers are in contact with North Korea on the platform, according to a post on X by the pseudonymous observer Tay, known for monitoring threats to the country’s crypto protocol.
A record $60 million of USDC fled the exchange at 10:00 UTC Monday, according to Hashed Official’s Dune-based tracker. USDC, the second largest dollar-pegged stablecoin in the world, is used as collateral in HyperLiquid. The deposit bridge still has $2.2 billion in USDC.
Addresses associated with hackers from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) have accumulated losses over $700,000 while trading with HyperLiquid, Tay said. The transactions indicate that hackers are potentially familiar with the inner workings of the platform to launch a malicious attack.
“DPRK does not trade. DPRK tests,” Dad said.
CoinDesk reached out to HyperLiquid at X for comments on the USDC releases and the potential threat from North Korea.
Tay said they reached out to the platform two weeks ago, offering help in countering a potential threat.
“I really want to emphasize that this is the most sophisticated and fast developing of all DPRK threat groups. Very creative and persistent. They also get their hands on 0days (as patched now of Chrome,” Dad’s message said the platform.
HyperLiquid is the leading on-chain perpetuals exchange, ordering 50% of the total on-chain perpetuals trading volume, which reached $8.6 billion in the last 24 hours.
The platform debuted its HYPE token on Nov. 29. Since then, there have been
climbed more than 600% to $28.6, briefly topping $10 billion in market capitalization. As of writing, HYPE is the 22nd largest digital asset in the world, according to Coingecko.
