U.S. prosecutors have charged a Canadian national with orchestrating a $65 million exploit targeting decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms KyberSwap and Indexed Finance.
On February 3, 2025, the Justice Department unsealed an indictment in a Brooklyn federal court against Andean Medjedovic, accusing him of hacking, wire fraud, money laundering, and attempted extortion. Medjedovic remains at large, according to the Brooklyn US Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors allege that in October 2021, he manipulated Indexed Finance’s smart contracts to steal $16.5 million through deceptive trading.
$48.8 Million Drained In Repeat DeFi Attack
Two years later, in November 2023, he allegedly executed a similar attack on KyberSwap, siphoning approximately $48.8 million from the protocol’s liquidity pools.
According to the indictment, Medjedovic borrowed hundreds of millions in digital tokens and engaged in complex trading maneuvers designed to trick the protocols’ smart contracts into miscalculating key financial variables. By exploiting these vulnerabilities, he allegedly withdrew investor funds at artificially inflated prices, leaving victims with worthless assets.
Following the KyberSwap hack, he is accused of attempting to extort victims through an on-chain settlement proposal. Prosecutors claim he threatened to delay negotiations over returning funds and later demanded operational control of the protocol in exchange for returning 50% of the stolen assets.
“Canadian Man Charged in $65 million Cryptocurrency Hacking Schemes.” CryptoMutant
The indictment also details Medjedovic’s efforts to launder the stolen funds with the help of a relative. Authorities allege he funneled money through a crypto mixer and multiple blockchain bridges to convert the assets into fiat currency using fraudulent bank accounts. When an unnamed bridge protocol froze a portion of the funds, Medjedovic reportedly paid $85,000 to an undercover law enforcement officer posing as a developer to unlock them.
Crypto Hacks Drop 44% In January As Hackers Steal $73M
Cryptocurrency-related cybercrime saw a significant decline in January 2025, with hackers stealing $73 million across 19 separate incidents — a 44% drop from the $133 million stolen in January 2024. Despite the overall decline in theft compared to last year, the data underscores the ongoing vulnerability of cryptocurrency platforms to cyber threats.
