coinculture.com
According to retired FBI Special Agent Chris Tarbell, the $114 million withdrawn from the decentralised cryptocurrency exchange (DEX) Mango Markets was not a cyberattack.
Former New York FBI cybercrime squad member Tarbell told CoinDesk TV’s “First Mover” that the Mango Market exploit was “more of a market manipulation.”
Ex-FBI special agent. Image: Chris Tarbell
“This wasn’t [about] getting into a system and getting unauthorised access,” Tarbell added, alluding to the technique employed by the criminals.
Earlier this month, exploiters used smart contract protocol flaws to modify Mango’s native token, MNGO. According to Tarbell, exploiters took advantage of the situation due to the absence of a central authority.
In regulated marketplaces, an alleged criminal would be apprehended, according to Tarbell, creator of the cybersecurity investigations firm Naxo. Avraham Eisenberg, a confessed exploiter, referred to the scheme as a high-profit trading strategy in a tweet before stating he would repay $67 million of the stolen funds.
According to Tarbell, the crypto business needs to “clean itself up,” and authorities are likely to intervene even if crypto doesn’t want them to. According to a corporate statement, Naxo focuses on bitcoin and other developing technologies.