Crypto hack: Manta Network suffers a DDos attack during token listing and is accused of money laundering

A few days ago, the layer-2 solution of the Manta Network infrastructure had to face one of the most widespread hacking attempts in the crypto world, namely the DDoS attack.

This type of threat consists of overloading an internet network with false requests, blocking servers and preventing users from communicating with each other.

For Manta, this obstacle arrived just as it was about to release its own MANTA token on the main crypto markets.

In the meantime, the project team must face accusations of money laundering, involving a strange transfer of 2 million MANTA to the Bithumb exchange.
Let’s see all the details below.

The Manta network undergoes a crypto hack from a DDos attack during the issuance event of its MANTA token, RPC nodes affected

On January 18th, Manta Network, a blockchain infrastructure, announced that it had been a victim of a hack, specifically a DDoS attack (Distributed Denial of Service) that targeted the RPC nodes of the second-level cryptographic network “Manta Pacific“.

The DDoS attack, well known in crypto environments, consists in flooding the network traffic of a website (or a network resource in general) causing an overload of “fake” requests that prevent normal functioning and connection with external entities.

For example, it’s like a large group of people entering a building all at the same time, blocking the entrance door and causing inconvenience to other individuals who would like to enter.

In the case of the Manta hack, the DDoS targeted the RPC nodes (Remote Procedure Call) with 135 million requests, leading to the creation of a long queue of transfers and increasing the cost of the blockchain’s gas.

All this happened right in conjunction with the TGE (token generation event) in which the MANTA crypto was inaugurated in the cryptocurrency market with a listing on Binance exchanges, Bithumb, Bybit, and Kucoin.

While the hack was ongoing, co-founder of Manta, Kenny Li, intervened on X to calm the dissatisfaction of users who experienced unpleasant communication between the layer-2 Pacific network and external applications such as New Paradigm and Into the Blue.

In particular, users have encountered difficulties in redeeming the MANTA airdrop within Into the Blue, which they were entitled to as a contribution to the incentive campaign, delaying any potential sales on the crypto market.

He stated that his team was working 24 hours to solve the problem by intensifying DDoS mitigation efforts and communicating with partners and service providers to implement response measures.

Unfortunately, due to the highly aggressive hack, the resolution times have been longer than usual. As of today, the problem seems to be resolved.

These are the words of Kenny Li in a post on X:

“Today was supposed to be a moment of celebration with the community. The Manta Network team has worked tirelessly to build what we see today, over the past 3 years. 60 people from all over the world contribute to this project, sacrificing time, holidays, weekends, and sleep to make it happen. I know that sometimes things don’t seem to go as planned, but we have always built and will always continue to build in the best interest of Manta.”

At the time of writing the article, the crypto MANTA, which has grown by 25% after the TGE on Thursday, January 18th, is priced at $2.32 with a market capitalization of $590 million.

Manta Team accused of money laundering: in the midst of the controversies there is the crypto MANTA and the Bithumb exchange

In the midst of the turbulence of last week, which affected the RPC nodes of the Manta Pacific network with a DDoS attack hack, some users accused the cryptographic project team of being responsible for manipulation and money laundering.

It all started when some users on the Korean Telegram group of Manta brought to light a suspicious transfer of 2 million MANTA tokens from a team member’s wallet to the cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb, which took place shortly before the network experienced significant slowdowns.

The accusation concerns that of having dumped these resources in the face of their own community, while the latter was unable to proceed with the sales of their airdrops, managing to bring home about 2094.7 Ethereum (ETH) for a value of about 5.1 million dollars.

The selling price was over 50 times higher than the listing price on Bithumb, and the traded tokens represented over 75% of the total circulating volume of the South Korean exchange.

Even user X “Definalist” has raised concerns about alleged money laundering and market manipulation actions, warning the crypto community of the terrible consequences if the accusation were to prove true.

The representatives of the web3 cryptographic network have publicly defended themselves by stating that the 2 million MANTA tokens transferred to Bithumb represent solely and exclusively resources intended to ensure liquidity for user exchanges on the platform.

However, this version does not convince the most experienced in the crypto world, as the wallet used for the fund transfer received back over 2000 ETH as a result of the sale of these assets. If these funds had really been used as liquidity, then they would not have been converted all at once at the time of listing.

Anyway, even in this difficult situation for Manta, co-founder Kenny Li spoke up on X to calm the waters.

His intervention was focused on thanking the Manta team for managing the crisis situation by working diligently and resolving everything promptly.

This is what Li said about social media:

“The barrage of misinformation and illicit attacks caught us all by surprise. I don’t think the community could have asked for a better team to tackle the challenge, and I don’t think the team could have done it without the support of the community.”

Now the ball will probably pass to the South Korean authorities, who could heavily sanction the Manta team if the accusations were to prove true.