OPC Token Flawed Sell Burn Mechanism Price Logic Exploited

From Quadriga Initiative Cryptocurrency Hacks, Scams, and Frauds Repository
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Notice: This page is a freshly imported case study from an original repository. While the original content had a similar format, some sections may not have been fully completed. Please help fill in any empty sections or any missing information you can find. If you are new here, please read General Tutorial on Wikis or Anatomy of a Case Study for help getting started.

Notice: This page contains sources which are not attributed to any text. The unattributed sources follow the initial description. Please assist by visiting each source, reviewing the content, and placing that reference next to any text it can be used to support. Feel free to add any information that you come across which isn't present already. Sources which don't contain any relevant information can be removed. Broken links can be replaced with versions from the Internet Archive. See General Tutorial on Wikis, Anatomy of a Case Study, and/or Citing Your Sources Guide for additional information. Thanks for your help!

Binance Security Image

The OPC smart contract on Binance Smart Chain contained a critical flaw in its sell function that caused the token’s price to rise instead of fall during sales. This backwards logic stemmed from burning OPC tokens directly from the liquidity pool each time tokens were sold, artificially inflating the price with every transaction. An attacker exploited this mechanism to drive up the price and extract inflated profits, ultimately resulting in a loss of approximately $107.5K, according to TenArmor. The stolen funds were later funneled through TornadoCash, with no public updates from the OPC project or signs of recovery or investigation at this time.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]

About OPC

The OPC smart contract was first created on the Binance Smart Chain on March 30th, 2025.

The Reality

Unfortunately, the logic in the OPC smart contract was backwards, causing the price to increase as more tokens were sold.

What Happened

A flawed sell function in the OPC smart contract caused token price to rise during sales, enabling an attacker to exploit the logic and steal approximately $107.5K.

Key Event Timeline - OPC Token Flawed Sell Burn Mechanism Price Logic Exploited
Date Event Description
March 30th, 2025 10:58:55 PM MDT OPC Smart Contract Launch The OPC smart contract is first created on the Binance Smart Chain.
April 1st, 2025 5:05:45 AM MDT Attack Transaction The attack transaction is posted to the Binance Smart Chain.
April 1st, 2025 5:42:00 AM MDT TenArmor Tweet Alert TenArmor posts an alert about the incident online.
April 1st, 2025 5:43:00 AM MDT pennysplayer Tweet Posted Twitter/X user pennysplayer posts an analysis of the exploit, attributing it to the burning of tokens when selling.
April 1st, 2025 5:50:00 AM MDT 0xEncore Analysis Posted Twitter/X user MegaKecc/0xEncore posts an analysis further.
April 1st, 2025 6:29:00 AM MDT BlockSec Phalcon Post BlockSec Phalcon posts a tweet with more details and high level analysis of the exploit.
April 1st, 2025 10:30:00 AM MDT Blockchain Security Post An account called BlockChain Security, with username jamesjhon, posts an update about the exploit.
April 1st, 2025 7:12:00 PM MDT Tikkala Research Tweet Tikkala Research shares their overall analysis of the exploit with high level details.

Technical Details

The exploit involving the OPC token, which resulted in a loss of approximately $104,000, was caused by a flawed implementation in the smart contract at address 0xa642. Specifically, the vulnerability lies in its custom sell function, identified by selector 0xdb3f7000. When tokens are sold through this function, it not only transfers tokens from the user but also burns a nearly equivalent amount of OPC tokens directly from the liquidity pool (e.g., a Uniswap pair). This unintended burning mechanism reduces the OPC supply in the pool, artificially inflating the token's price with each sale.

Because of this flawed logic, an attacker could repeatedly sell tokens and watch the price of OPC rise rather than fall — the opposite of expected market behavior. This created a feedback loop: the more tokens sold, the more tokens were burned from the pool, and the higher the price climbed. The attacker exploited this behavior to manipulate the price upward during sell operations, then likely swapped the inflated OPC tokens for other assets at a profit. The vulnerability stems from a misunderstanding of how liquidity pools work and the impact of modifying reserves directly, especially through token burning.

Total Amount Lost

TenArmor reports "an approximately loss of $107.5K".

The total amount lost has been estimated at $108,000 USD.

Immediate Reactions

There was widespread analysis among some third parties, however there doesn't appear to be any public presence with an official update from the OPC project.

Ultimate Outcome

TenArmor reports that the stolen funds were subsequently deposited in TornadoCash.

Total Amount Recovered

There is no indication that any of the funds have been recovered.

There do not appear to have been any funds recovered in this case.

Ongoing Developments

It is unclear if any investigation is underway or any recovery in progress.

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

  1. ↑ TenArmor - "Our system has detected a suspicious attack involving #OPC on #BSC, resulting in an approximately loss of $107.5K. The stolen funds have been deposited into http://Tornado.Cash." - Twitter/X (Accessed Aug 12, 2025)
  2. ↑ Attack Transaction - BSCScan (Accessed Aug 12, 2025)
  3. ↑ smhkptking - "OPC token exploited for $104k. Root cause: contract 0xa642 has a sell function 0xdb3f7000, when selling it burns almost the same amount of OPC tokens from pair and thus drives the price up. The more you sell, the higher price goes." - Twitter/X (Accessed Aug 12, 2025)
  4. ↑ Tikkala Research - "A 3-days OPC contract was attacked, with the attacker gaining about $107k in [one] transaction. The root cause is an unknown selector, 0xdb3f7000 in the contract, which burns tokens from swaps, affecting the K number." - Twitter/X (Accessed Aug 12, 2025)
  5. ↑ BlockChain Security - "root cause: 0xa642e66873111deb830739b90c03fd6981a34332 0xdb3f7000 function" - Twitter/X (Accessed Aug 12, 2025)
  6. ↑ 0xEncore - "OPC token exploited for $107.4k. Root cause: when sell tokens, sell function 0xdb3f7000 burns OPC tokens from pair and thus drives the price up. The more you sell, the higher price goes." - Twitter/X (Accessed Aug 12, 2025)
  7. ↑ BlockSec Phalcon - "ALERT! Our systems flagged a suspicious TX on #BSC exploiting price manipulation via burn pair, resulting in $107K loss." - Twitter/X (Accessed Aug 12, 2025)
  8. ↑ OPC Incident Attack Transaction - BlockSec App (Accessed Aug 12, 2025)
  9. ↑ Victim OPC Smart Contract - BSCScan (Accessed Aug 12, 2025)
  10. ↑ Victim OPC Smart Contract Creation - BSCScan (Accessed Aug 12, 2025)
  11. ↑ Victim OPC Smart Contract - TokenView (Accessed Aug 12, 2025)
Retrieved from "https://quadrigainitiative.com/cryptocurrencyhackscamfraudwiki/index.php?title=OPC_Token_Flawed_Sell_Burn_Mechanism_Price_Logic_Exploited&oldid=6868"