Metaverse Platform MetaPoint Suffers $1M Exploit that Sinks POT Value by 80%

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Tolu Ajiboye
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Metaverse platform MetaPoint recently experienced an exploit that cost roughly $1 million in Binance Coin (BNB). According to reports, the cyber attackers made away with 2,515 BNB, raising concerns about blockchain vulnerability. The MetaPoint exploit also comes as the tech space begins restraining its expectations regarding the emerging metaverse.

MetaPoint Yet to Properly Address Exploit

MetaPoint has yet to issue an official statement on the exploit and whether it plans to reimburse victims. However, on Telegram, the MetaPoint team mentioned the hack and subsequent suspension of all operations. According to a tweet by Web3 security platform AegisWeb3, “They have found vulnerabilities and are currently in the process of fixing them”.

Any reimbursement efforts initiated by the metaverse platform could prove difficult. This is because the hackers have funneled the stolen loot through open-source, decentralized crypto mixer Tornado Cash. The crypto tumbler’s service of mixing potentially identifiable or tainted crypto with other digital currencies obscures any address trail. This complicates any potential MetaPoint reimbursement plan, as it would be difficult to trace the stolen funds back to their source.

The price of MetaPoint-related POT token plunged by nearly 80% in the aftermath of the hack. The digital currency is trading at $1.74 over the last 24 hours after attaining a peak of $35.71.

The cybercriminal reportedly hacked one of MetaPoint’s smart contracts, thus diverting user-deposited funds. In other words, whenever a user deposited funds, the insidious transaction created a new contract and transferred said funds into that contract instead.

An analyst commented on the MetaPoint exploit, saying:

“The problem is that this contract has a function called approve that gives the caller of the function access to the $META tokens without any restriction.”

Nonetheless, this analyst reportedly salvaged 36,800 POT tokens worth $63,000.

MetaPoint as a Harbinger of Metaverse Interactivity

MetaPoint is a decentralized interactive world where players engage in several activities typically associated with virtual worlds. These activities include socials (games, events) and business-building.

MetaPoint also boasts an innovative trading model alongside a new AMM mechanism. This concept implies that participants can simultaneously engage in financial mechanisms while having fun.

Metaverse games are growing in popularity due to increased crypto adoption in mainstream spaces. Combining the usage of digital currencies with Web3 capabilities such as blockchain, these games prove to be the catalyst for casual interest in decentralized technology. Highly-valued leading metaverse games include Decentraland (MANA), The Sandbox (SAND), and Enjin (ENJIN).

However, in recent times, metaverse technology has suffered a drag, underscored by Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) scaling down its ambitions. Other corporations are also losing steam in their metaverse endeavors outside the tech space. For instance, Walmart (NYSE: WMT) has discontinued its metaverse experience on game creation system Roblox. According to January 2022 reports, the department store chain planned to venture into the metaverse with its own crypto and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Tolu is a cryptocurrency and blockchain enthusiast based in Lagos. He likes to demystify crypto stories to the bare basics so that anyone anywhere can understand without too much background knowledge. When he's not neck-deep in crypto stories, Tolu enjoys music, loves to sing and is an avid movie lover.