Solana DEX Developer Admits To Stealing And Gambling Away $300M Meant For Hack Victims: 'I F***ed Up Way Too Hard'

A core developer working for Solana-based SOL/USD decentralized exchange, Cypher, admitted to misappropriating funds worth more than $300 million meant to compensate victims of a sensational hack on the platform last year.

What Happened: In a public statement shared on X, the developer, under the alias “Hoak,” said, "To address the elephant in the room, the allegations are true, I took the funds and gambled them away." 

"I would like to deeply apologize to all affected parties, I know at this point nothing is going to take back my actions and I have to face the consequences," the regretful developer added.

“TLDR: I fucked up way too hard, way too many times. I don't expect anyone to forgive me or let this go unpunished,” he said on X.

The public acknowledgment of their crimes comes a day after another core contributor at the now-collapsed protocol accused Hoak of stealing redemption funds.

"This is incredibly saddening to me. I never thought this would be a possibility,  having a core contributor who stayed on after the exploit to try and rebuild the project be the one who rugged funds from the redemption contract," the developer with the pseudonym "Cobra" claimed. 

Cobra revealed that the crime had been happening for months, and said they would pursue legal action against Hoak.

Why It Matters: Cypher, a trading platform on the Solana blockchain, was robbed of more than $1 million in cryptocurrencies last August after a hacker exploited a bug in the protocol, according to DeFiLlama.

The hacking incident and subsequent defrauding by its own members raised concerns over the lack of integrity of those working in the ecosystem. However, timely tracking by on-chain sleuths raised hopes that such foul play would eventually be uncovered.

Price Action: At the time of writing, SOL was exchanging hands at $143.64, following a 1.88% decline in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

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