Solana Meme Coin Factory Pump Fun Compromised by 'Bonding Curve' Exploit

Solana's meme coin hub, Pump.Fun, faced turmoil as an exploiter targeted its 'bonding curve' contracts, halting all trading.

"We are aware that the bonding curve contracts have been compromised," announced Pump.Fun amidst the chaos.

The attacker employed trading strategies to manipulate the market,

using flash loans to inject phantom SOL tokens.

This deceit inflated the value of meme coins without genuine investment,

a tactic that surprisingly didn't yield significant profits for the exploiter.

Despite the lack of profit, the exploit led to a $300,000 loss in SOL tokens.

Pump.Fun has since secured the protocol, ensuring the total value locked is safe,

and is investigating the attack's full scope.

Solana Meme Coin Factory Pump.Fun Compromised by 'Bonding Curve' Exploit

By Danny NelsonMay 16, 2024 at 3:28 p.m.Updated May 16, 2024 at 3:43 p.m.Solana Hacker House in Miami (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)

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"We are aware that the bonding curve contracts have been compromised and are investigating the matter," the months-old project's Twitter account announced two hours into the chaos.

Trading has been paused for now Pump.fun, but prior to the announcement, traders were left to speculate on what was happening on the platform

Details of the attack were still coming together at press time.

Pump.fun is a months-old project for creating and gambling on meme coins on the Solana blockchain.

Thursday's exploit hit smart contracts responsible for issuing the meme coins on Pump.Fun curve, people said.

Solana Meme Coin Factory Pump.Fun Compromised by 'Bonding Curve' Exploit

The exploiter may not be making any money from the attack.

By Danny NelsonMay 16, 2024 at 3:28 p.m.Updated May 16, 2024 at 3:43 p.m.Solana Hacker House in Miami (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)

The Solana blockchain's red-hot meme coin factory Pump.Fun descended into chaos Thursday at the hands of an exploiter who compromised the tech central to its issuance of joke cryptocurrencies.

"We are aware that the bonding curve contracts have been compromised and are investigating the matter," the months-old project's Twitter account announced two hours into the chaos.

Trading has been paused for now Pump.fun, but prior to the announcement, traders were left to speculate on what was happening on the platform

Coins sometimes hit it big for their investors, but most implode before they reach the critical market cap of $69,000 where tokens get released into the wild.

The attacker has caused losses of $300,000 in SOL tokens, according to on-chain researchers.

Rather than run off with the money, they used it to repay the flash loans and airdrop funds to other people, the people said.

Oddly, on-chain evidence suggests the attacker was not making much of a profit.

"We are aware that the bonding curve contracts have been compromised and are investigating the matter," the months-old project's Twitter account announced two hours into the chaos.

Rather than run off with the money, they used it to repay the flash loans and airdrop funds to other people, the people said.

The attacker tricked the platform's bonding curve into accepting phantom SOL tokens they had borrowed and quickly repaid in what's known as a "flash loan." This resulted in the bonding curves filling up with nonexistent SOL, making tokens look valuable despite no real buy-side interest.

It advertises itself as a "fair launch" platform where investors can buy into joke tokens in their earliest moments.

"We’ve paused trading – you cannot buy and sell any coins at the moment."

The Solana blockchain's red-hot meme coin factory Pump.Fun descended into chaos Thursday at the hands of an exploiter who compromised the tech central to its issuance of joke cryptocurrencies.

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