KiloEx turned a $7.5 million crypto heist into an unlikely success story. After hackers exploited their price oracle system, buying ETH at $100 and selling at $10,000, the exchange made them an offer they couldn’t refuse: return 90% of the funds for a $750,000 bounty. Surprisingly, it worked. Within days, the hacker returned everything, and users lost nothing. Talk about turning lemons into crypto lemonade. The full story reveals how this bold strategy paid off.
Hackers struck again, but this time the good guys won. KiloEx, a crypto exchange, faced a massive $7.5 million exploit on April 14, 2025, when some clever thief manipulated their price oracle system. The hacker’s trick? Buying ETH at $100 and selling at $10,000 in the same transaction. Pretty sneaky.
Crypto hackers got creative, but KiloEx outsmarted them, turning a $7.5M exploit into a lesson in smart defense.
The attack sent shockwaves through the crypto world, with KILO token nosediving 30% instantly. Ouch. But KiloEx wasn’t about to roll over and play dead. They shut everything down faster than you can say “blockchain” and called in the big guns – Seal-911, SlowMist, Sherlock, PeckShield, and Blitezero. Talk about assembling the Avengers of crypto security. Their rigorous audit process immediately identified the vulnerability in the platform’s infrastructure. Like many smart contract vulnerabilities, this exploit highlighted the critical importance of robust security measures in DeFi platforms.
Here’s where it gets interesting. Instead of just threatening legal action, KiloEx got creative. They offered the hacker a deal: Return 90% of the funds within 72 hours, and walk away with a cool $750,000 bounty. No questions asked. Who says crime doesn’t pay? Well, technically, this made it not a crime anymore.
The hacker must have liked those odds. Four days later, the money started flowing back – first $1.4 million, then another $5.5 million. PeckShield confirmed the returns, and suddenly, what looked like a disaster turned into a triumph. Everyone got their money back, and the hacker got a legitimate payday.
The whole ordeal showcases a new way of handling crypto heists. Sure, the attacker tried using Tornado Cash to hide their tracks, but KiloEx’s blend of carrot-and-stick approach worked like a charm. Law enforcement stayed ready, security firms kept watching, and users didn’t lose a dime. The exchange has officially announced they will not pursue legal charges against the hacker after the successful recovery. It’s almost like offering criminals a legal way out actually works better than pure threats. Who knew?
In the end, KiloEx turned a potential catastrophe into a win-win situation. The funds came back, the hacker got paid, and everyone learned something about price oracle validation. Sometimes the best defense is a good offense – and a fat bounty check.
