Hyperliquid sees record outflows following North Korea hack concerns

Decentralized perpetual trading platform Hyperliquid saw a record volume of net outflows after one blockchain expert on social media platform X claimed on Monday that North Korea-backed hackers were present on the DeFi platform.

According to data from Dune Analytics, Hyperliquid saw USDC net outflows worth $249.1 million on Monday and another $22.2 million in net outflows on Tuesday so far.

Taylor Monahan, security researcher of Metamask, posted 12 blockchain addresses that were active on Hyperliquid that she has identified as cyberactors backed by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The dates show that one address was active on the platform from Oct. 2.

Monahan said in the X thread that her offer to Hyperliquid to help protect the platform against North Korea is still on the table, as DPRK actors appear to be training to become familiar with the platform to launch an attack in the future.

“I am quite concerned that you guys are at increased risk due to the fact we know that these specific threat actors are now intimately familiar with your platform,” Monahan wrote in her offer to Hyperliquid two weeks ago, which she reposted on Monday. “I really want to emphasize that these are the most sophisticated and rapidly evolving of all the DPRK threat groups.”

Hyperliquid’s Hype, its native token launched recently, also experienced volatility on Monday. The token fell from a weekend high of $34.5 to around $26 on Monday and continued to fluctuate, according to data from Coingecko. Hype recovered 5.4% in the past 24 hours to trade at $29.63 at the time of writing.

Hyperliquid responded to the allegations on Discord by saying that the platform has not spotted any signs of an exploit.

“There has been no DPRK exploit — or any exploit for that matter — of Hyperliquid,” the platform said. “All user funds are accounted for. Hyperliquid Labs takes opsec seriously. No vulnerabilities have been shared by any party.”

DPRK’s state-backed hacker groups have been accused of orchestrating some of the largest hacks in crypto, such as the $600 million hack of the Ronin Ethereum sidechain in 2022.