Audius Thief Loses $6 Million in Crypto

The non-fungible token (NFT) music platform known as Audius is the most recent target of a heist committed online. Approximately six million dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency units were stolen by the attackers.

Audius sustains significant cryptocurrency losses.

The most significant advantage of using Audius is that it places all of the control in the hands of those users who share their music with other people who are accessing the enterprise. Musicians are able to publish their work on a platform that is completely decentralized, and listeners may subsequently purchase the tracks using NFTs. From that point on, they become the owners of all royalties rights to their music and begin to generate money anytime people purchase or download their work. They do not have any financial obligations to their managers, agents, or any of the other members of their entourage.

Since December of the previous year, the company has hosted more than one hundred thousand independent artists and has more than six million users.

According to the crypto compliance platform Mis Track, Audius had more than 18.5 million Audio tokens, the official cryptocurrency of the company, stolen from one of its wallet systems. Audio tokens can be used to purchase goods and services from the company. During the time of the heist, they had a value of approximately $6 million, but they were sold for slightly more than $1 million in Ethereum. The funds were transferred using the Uniswap exchange, but they have not been removed from the scammer’s personal address.

Audius explained it like this in a tweet:

There have been reports of an illicit transfer of AUDIO tokens from the community treasury, and our team is aware of these reports. We have launched an investigation into the matter and will provide an update as soon as we get more information. The problem has been identified, and corrections are currently being made so that things can return to their normal, stable state. To prevent additional damage, it was necessary to halt the token and all other Audius smart contracts that were running on Ethereum. We do not feel that any additional monies are at danger at this time.

The transaction history also reveals that the perpetrator obtained the tokens in the beginning via a mixing service known as Tornado Cash. When money is transferred using these types of services, the sender and recipient remain completely anonymous. Because of this, these services are frequently employed for illegal activities including money laundering and money washing.

Chainalysis, a company that analyzes blockchains, has stated in the past that the decentralized finance (defi) sphere is becoming a rising shelter for crypto crime. This was suggested by the company. In a report that was released not too long ago, the business stated:

Defi is one of the most fascinating parts of the larger cryptocurrency ecosystem. It offers enormous prospects not only to cryptocurrency consumers but also to people who want to start their own cryptocurrency businesses.

Is This the Right Time to Commit Cybercrime?

The year 2022 was a significant one for crypto-related criminal activity, with occurrences such as those involving the Harmony exchange in Northern California wiping hundreds of millions of dollars off the digital books. Lazarus, a hacker gang located in North Korea, has been identified as the responsible party behind many of the world’s largest and most recent assaults. Just recently, the corporation suffered a loss of more than one hundred million dollars as a result of the activities of Lazarus.

In the beginning of the year, a digital gaming platform called Axie Infinity was the victim of a hack that stole more than 600 million dollars. The gang was also tied to this incident.