8 min

Xen and Sybil Attacks BlockchainGandalf

    • Technology

Well, that didn't take long.

A day after my previous video there was a Sybil attack on the XEN cryptocurrency. Except, the attack was really on an exchange - FTX, which offers free crypto withdrawals, and didn't check the maximum gas it allocates to this.

As a result someone found an arbitrage opportunity. Use smart contracts to spawn off lots of Ethereum addresses, deposit small amounts of ETH in the exchange, then withdraw and in the same transaction claim XEN crypto, with FTX paying for it. A day later, mint the XEN and immediately sell on a DEX. 

More on that in this episode.

Well, that didn't take long.

A day after my previous video there was a Sybil attack on the XEN cryptocurrency. Except, the attack was really on an exchange - FTX, which offers free crypto withdrawals, and didn't check the maximum gas it allocates to this.

As a result someone found an arbitrage opportunity. Use smart contracts to spawn off lots of Ethereum addresses, deposit small amounts of ETH in the exchange, then withdraw and in the same transaction claim XEN crypto, with FTX paying for it. A day later, mint the XEN and immediately sell on a DEX. 

More on that in this episode.

8 min

Top Podcasts In Technology

Acquired
Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal
Lex Fridman Podcast
Lex Fridman
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
All-In Podcast, LLC
The TED AI Show
TED
Hard Fork
The New York Times
TED Radio Hour
NPR