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Crypto Lender Celsius Admits Losses in $120M BadgerDAO Hack
However, the company didn’t specify the amount it lost.
By Muyao Shen
Updated May 11, 2023, 3:52 p.m. Published Dec 3, 2021, 7:17 p.m.
Crypto lender Celsius Network confirmed the company has lost money from the latest decentralized finance (DeFi) hack on BadgerDAO, a lending platform that offers yields and focuses on wrapped bitcoin.
During an ask-me-anything (AMA) YouTube live stream on Friday, Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky said the company “lost money” in the BadgerDAO hack without specifying the value of the losses. Some had speculated earlier Friday that roughly $51 million was lost, based on blockchain data.
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“It wasn’t a Celsius hack,” Mashinsky said. “It was a Badger hack, but some of the Celsius funds were there so Celsius lost money. ... But none of the Celsius members lost money.”
“We are working with Badger to recover those funds,” Mashinsky added. “We are collaborating with them on the investigation.”
The company’s official Twitter account also posted a statement regarding the hack, following the live-stream event.
.@CelsiusNetwork was made aware that the Badger platform had suffered an attack of unauthorized withdrawal of funds. The attack did not occur on the core Celsius platform. No Celsius client and user assets were affected. (1/5)
— Celsius (@CelsiusNetwork) December 3, 2021
CoinDesk reached out to Celsius directly about how much was lost in the hack but the firm has yet to respond.
Read more: Badger DAO Protocol Suffers $120M Exploit
As CoinDesk reported, BadgerDAO suffered an exploit Wednesday worth about $120 million in a number of cryptocurrencies. The DeFi protocol offers opportunities to earn yield via different crypto assets including wrapped bitcoin.
As a popular crypto lending company, Celsius recently closed a $750 million Series B funding round despite the fact that it has been targeted by several regulators in the U.S. over alleged securities laws violations.
There have also been questions about how the company uses funds from its depositors. News of its involvement in BadgerDAO will likely add to those questions.
Read more: What Crypto Lender Celsius Isn’t Telling Its Depositors
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