The alleged mastermind behind the Solana memecoin protocol pump.enjoyable exploit has been apprehended in London.
In keeping with Blockworks, citing sources aware of the operation, British authorities arrested Jarett Dunn, a former contractor identified on-line as @STACCoverflow, within the early hours of Could 18.
The arrest is claimed to have come following a meticulous 26-hour intelligence operation initiated by a third-party stakeholder who had employed a personal intelligence agency. The operation leveraged social media posts and different publicly accessible info to trace Dunn’s whereabouts in London.
Native operatives, or “auxiliaries,” have been reportedly deployed in a large search that ultimately led them to the Center Eight Resort in Covent Backyard. Dunn was present in a room on the resort and brought into custody seven hours later.
Apparently, the timing of his arrest coincided along with his final social media submit on X, the place he hinted at his id with the username @STACCoverflow, a play on the French phrase “j’arrête” (which means “I’m done”) and his actual title, Jarett.
After his arrest, Dunn was launched on bail, in accordance with his personal submit on X and affirmation from the intelligence agency.
He’s anticipated to stay within the UK till his court docket look, reportedly scheduled for August.
The pump.enjoyable platform, which simplifies token launches on the Solana (SOL) community, was exploited on Could 16, leading to a lack of over 12,300 SOL valued at roughly $2 million on the time.
The attacker used flash loans from Raydium, a Solana lending protocol, to hold out the exploit. Flash loans are decentralized finance (defi) instruments that enable customers to borrow giant quantities of capital.
On this case, the attacker manipulated the pump.enjoyable bonding curves, a mechanism that units token costs based mostly on provide.
By reaching 100% on these curves, the hacker accessed and withdrew liquidity meant for Raydium, then repaid the flash mortgage, making off with substantial earnings.
Following the incident, pump.enjoyable began working with regulation enforcement to analyze the breach.
Igor Igamberdiev, head of analysis at cryptocurrency market maker Wintermute, was among the many first to recommend that an inside personal key leak may need facilitated the hack. Subsequently, Dunn, beneath the alias @STACCoverflow, admitted his function within the exploit, posting a sequence of erratic tweets the place he expressed a want to “change the course of history” and brazenly mentioned his psychological well being struggles and grief over his mom’s dying.
https://twitter.com/STACCoverflow/standing/1791134470071865576
He additionally asserted that the stolen funds can be distributed to holders of assorted Solana tokens.
Dunn’s posts indicated that not less than seven people have been entitled to those payouts, although he didn’t present specifics in regards to the distribution course of or deadlines.
His messages additionally recommended a motive pushed extra by emotional misery than monetary achieve.
