In a notable turn of events, a victim of a malicious hack has managed to potentially salvage a significant portion of their lost funds. The victim, an NFT art collector and trader known as "L3yum," suffered a loss of nearly $170,000 in nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and other cryptocurrencies due to a hack.
The Cyber Police Come to the Rescue
The hack took place on March 16 when the attacker gained access to L3yum's hot wallet by acquiring the seed phrase. The stolen assets, which included various NFTs related to Yuga Labs and cryptocurrencies from lesser-known projects, were quickly liquidated.
However, a recent development has provided a glimmer of hope. L3yum revealed in a detailed post dated August 11 that progress has been made in recovering some of the stolen funds. The hacker's Tether (USDT) address has been blacklisted, effectively freezing the assets held there. Currently, around 90 Ether, valued at approximately $166,000, stands to potentially be reclaimed.
Challenges in Recovery
Despite this progress, it's important to note that the blacklisted wallet contains $107,306 in USDT. This indicates that the complete recovery of both the stolen funds and NFTs might not be achievable for L3yum.
Centralized USDT Blacklisting as a Solution
In similar cases where USDT addresses have been blacklisted due to hacks, Tether has historically taken steps to burn the blacklisted assets and issue equivalent amounts to the original owners. This practice has been used to mitigate losses for victims of attacks. Notably, even the CEO of Binance, CZ, faced a hack that led to the blacklisting of the hacker's wallet.
The Process and Caution in Digital Security
It's worth mentioning that blacklisting a USDT address isn't a decision made lightly; it often requires legal intervention such as a court order. When asked about the process, L3yum acknowledged the possibility of this route but noted that its finalization was still pending.
