US Authorities Recover $31 Million in Cryptocurrency Linked to 2021 Hack

U.S. authorities have recovered $31 million in cryptocurrency associated with the April 2021 hack of the now-defunct decentralized finance (DeFi) platform, Uranium Finance.

The seizure was the outcome of a joint operation between the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in San Diego, as reported in a statement on February 24 via social media.

While the identities of the hackers have not been disclosed, officials are encouraging victims of the hack to step forward.

Uranium Finance Launched on BNB Chain as Uniswap Fork in April 2021

Uranium Finance, established on the BNB Chain and based on the automated market maker Uniswap, debuted on April 1, 2021. Less than a month later, on April 28, hackers exploited vulnerabilities in the platform’s v2 smart contracts, enabling them to manipulate balances and siphon funds.

This breach allowed the attackers to inflate Uranium’s token balance by a factor of 100, resulting in a theft of approximately $50 million in digital assets. The stolen funds included about $36.8 million in BNB and Binance USD (BUSD), alongside other assets like 80 Bitcoin (BTC), 1,800 Ether (ETH), 26,500 Polkadot (DOT), 5.7 million Tether (USDT), 638,000 Cardano (ADA), and 112,000 U92 tokens, Uranium’s native cryptocurrency.

SDNY and @HSISanDiego seize cryptocurrency worth approximately $31 million related to April 2021 hack of Uranium Finance. If you believe you have been a victim of this hack, please contact [email protected].

— US Attorney SDNY (@SDNYnews) February 24, 2025

Following the hack, the perpetrators laundered the stolen funds by converting Polkadot and Cardano tokens into Ether, which was subsequently funneled through the privacy tool Tornado Cash and transferred to various centralized exchanges. This incident was not Uranium’s first breach; earlier in the month on April 8, the platform’s v1 liquidity pool was exploited, resulting in the loss of $1.3 million in BNB and BUSD. Uranium launched its v2 platform on April 16, only to face another compromise 12 days later.

Since the incident, Uranium Finance’s website has been removed, and its social media accounts have remained inactive, leaving victims with limited options for compensation as investigations continue to unfold.

Crypto Hacks Drop 44% In January As Hackers Steal $73M

Cryptocurrency-related cybercrime saw a notable decline in January 2025, with hackers stealing $73 million across 19 separate incidents, showing a 44% decrease from the $133 million stolen in January 2024. Although this reduction is encouraging for industry security, the figure still reflects a striking ninefold increase from December 2024, when crypto hackers seized only $3.8 million.

However, February 2025 has been challenging, with ByBit experiencing a hack on February 21, draining its ETH cold wallet of $1.5 billion worth of crypto.

Key Takeaways

U.S. authorities seized $31 million in crypto linked to the 2021 Uranium Finance hack.
Hackers took advantage of Uranium’s smart contracts vulnerabilities, stealing around $50 million in digital assets.
The laundered funds were moved through Tornado Cash to centralized exchanges.