Moonwell Hacker Nets $6M by Inflating MAMO Price and Borrowing $10M

A recent attack on the DeFi lending protocol Moonwell has resulted in the theft of approximately $6 million, according to blockchain analyst CJ_Blockchain. The attacker artificially inflated the price of the MAMO token, used it as collateral to borrow $10 million in other assets, and then exited with a net profit.

The attacker purchased around $7 million worth of MAMO tokens, driving up their price, which were then deposited on Moonwell as collateral. With this collateral, the attacker borrowed a combination of cbBTC, USDC, WETH, and wstETH, totaling approximately $10 million.

After securing the borrowed assets, the attacker sold the remaining MAMO tokens for about $3.2 million, resulting in an estimated $3.8 million loss on the MAMO trades themselves. However, the value of the borrowed assets far exceeded that loss. The overall extraction is estimated at about $6 million when accounting for the borrowed funds.