Equalizer Exchange Domain Hijacking
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The Equalizer Exchange is a unique concept decentralized echange which has a better fee model to incentivize more liquidity. On May 13th, 2024, the team tweeted to notify users that they should stop interacting with their primary domain name. It appears that the domain was likely hijacked, as they subsequently launched mirror platforms on other domain names. The service does not appear to have made any efforts to compensate users nor track how much was taken.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]
About Equalizer Exchange
"Equalizer was derived from the initial concept of Andre Cronje. The mechanism that was used to create a perpetual decentralized exchange was unique and ingenious. The launch of this platform is to take the concept and apply it to a more natural style DEX. Equalizer will become the trading mechanism for the Fantom network, utilizing the Solidly perpetual model with some tweaks to fee structures and emissions."
"The perpetual model is the first of its kind that can sustain an emission token price. The problem that is tackled here, is to create an equalized effect across the rewards for token holders and the incentive for LP providers. Our model supports this as it rewards liquidity with a valuable token, that devices an income similar to the Curve model. The fee structure ensures that the utility and reward for holding and locking the token is high enough to support the required liquidity to succeed in low slippage trades."
"Charging a low fee (E.g. 0.01%) is a flawed concept, unless the volume warrants the incentive required to hold enough TVL, especially for volatile pairs. This in turn, creates a spiral in the native token price destroying the platforms’ ability to maintain liquidity. Now, who really cares about a fee of 0.01% if the slippage in the trade is 2% or 3%. Hopefully now you are starting to see the necessity of maintaining a fee that supports low slippage trades. This in turn provides a better result and experience for the trader."
The Reality
This sections is included if a case involved deception or information that was unknown at the time. Examples include:
- When the service was actually started (if different than the "official story").
- Who actually ran a service and their own personal history.
- How the service was structured behind the scenes. (For example, there was no "trading bot".)
- Details of what audits reported and how vulnerabilities were missed during auditing.
What Happened
The specific events of the loss and how it came about. What actually happened to cause the loss and some of the events leading up to it.
| Date | Event | Description |
|---|---|---|
| May 13th, 2024 11:00:00 PM MDT | Investigation Underway | The Equalizer Exchange team publishes an announcement that they are investigation and will report back, and users should not interact with the smart contract. |
| May 14th, 2024 2:40:00 AM MDT | Mirror Sites Online | Equalized Exchange reports mirror URLs which can be used instead of their main website. |
| May 14th, 2024 11:44:00 AM MDT | Domains Reported Restored | The Equalizer Exchange team reports that the domain name has now been restored. |
| May 28th, 2024 10:11:00 PM MDT | Why No Compensation | A Twitter user asks why there is no compensation for affected clients. |
Technical Details
This section includes specific detailed technical analysis of any security breaches which happened. What specific software vulnerabilities contributed to the problem and how were they exploited?
Total Amount Lost
The total amount lost is unknown.
How much was lost and how was it calculated? If there are conflicting reports, which are accurate and where does the discrepancy lie?
Immediate Reactions
"On May 14th, the decentralized trading protocol Equalizer Exchange within the Fantom ecosystem was suspected to have been attacked. The official team tweeted that they are investigating the incident and advised users not to interact with the Equalizer Exchange frontend. On May 15th, Equalizer Exchange announced that the domain has been restored."
"Please do not interact with http://equalizer.exchange front end at the moment. We are investigating and will report back."
"http://Equalizer.Exchange has been restored.
We have recovered the domain and the dapp is now working along with its sub domains.
Please clear your cache and cookies, ensuring you are transacting with our dapp and contract set."
"THis is the scam contract, 0x9669295cd350Fd28e3745b3163ed394133269DC3 Help me please, i loss all my tokens"
"I loss my Token, 0x9fa7bb759641fcd37fe4ae41f725e0f653f2c726"
Ultimate Outcome
"Why you didn't compensate clients that are affected by this?"
Total Amount Recovered
There do not appear to have been any funds recovered in this case.
What funds were recovered? What funds were reimbursed for those affected users?
Ongoing Developments
What parts of this case are still remaining to be concluded?
Individual Prevention Policies
No specific policies for individual prevention have yet been identified in this case.
For the full list of how to protect your funds as an individual, check our Prevention Policies for Individuals guide.
Platform Prevention Policies
Policies for platforms to take to prevent this situation have not yet been selected in this case.
For the full list of how to protect your funds as a financial service, check our Prevention Policies for Platforms guide.
Regulatory Prevention Policies
No specific regulatory policies have yet been identified in this case.
For the full list of regulatory policies that can prevent loss, check our Prevention Policies for Regulators guide.
References
- ↑ SlowMist Hacked - SlowMist Zone (Jun 4, 2024)
- ↑ @Equalizer0x Twitter (Jun 5, 2024)
- ↑ https://equalizer.exchange/ (Jun 5, 2024)
- ↑ Welcome to Equalizer | Equalizer Docs (Jun 5, 2024)
- ↑ @Equalizer0x Twitter (Jun 5, 2024)
- ↑ @BlocmediaCH Twitter (Jun 5, 2024)
- ↑ @Equalizer0x Twitter (Jun 5, 2024)
- ↑ Twitter (Jun 5, 2024)
- ↑ Twitter (Jun 5, 2024)
- ↑ Contract Address 0x9669295cd350Fd28e3745b3163ed394133269DC3 | FTMScan (Jun 5, 2024)
- ↑ Address 0x9fa7bb759641fcd37fe4ae41f725e0f653f2c726 | FTMScan (Jun 5, 2024)
- ↑ Twitter (Jun 5, 2024)
- ↑ Twitter (Jun 5, 2024)
- ↑ Fantom Transaction Hash (Txhash) Details | FTMScan (Jun 5, 2024)
- ↑ Fantom Transaction Hash (Txhash) Details | FTMScan (Jun 5, 2024)