U.S. Authorities Seize $31M in Crypto Tied to the 2021 Hack of Uranium Finance

The seizure was the result of a joint effort between the Southern District of New York (SDNY) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in San Diego.

U.S. authorities have seized about $31 million in crypto linked to the 2021 hack of Uranium Finance, according to a Monday post by the Southern District of New York (SDNY).

The seizure was the result of a joint effort between SDNY and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in San Diego, according to the post. A spokesperson for SDNY did not return CoinDesk’s request for comment before press time, and no further details about the seizure or any related investigation were immediately available.

Uranium Finance was a clone of automated market maker (AMM) Uniswap that was deployed on Binance’s BNB chain (then called Binance Smart Chain). In April 2021, a hacker stole $50 million in various tokens by exploiting a bug in Uranium’s pair contracts. The Uranium Finance hack was one of the largest monetary exploits in decentralized finance (DeFi) history at the time of the incident.

Read More: Binance Chain DeFi Exchange Uranium Finance Loses $50M in Exploit

The hacker attempted to launder a portion of the funds in a variety of ways after the exploit, including using crypto mixer Tornado Cash, depositing small amounts of crypto into centralized exchanges and, according to blockchain sleuth ZachXBT, possibly purchasing rare and valuable Magic: The Gathering trading cards.

Uranium Finance closed down following the hack, leaving victims with no recourse or financial compensation. The partial recovery, which comes nearly four years after the initial attack, provides the first hope that victims may be able to recoup some of their losses.