US Authorities Seize $31M In Crypto Linked To 2021 Uranium Finance Hack

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

The seizure was the result 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, according to a statement shared on February 24 via X (formerly Twitter).

Officials did not reveal the identities of the hackers but urged victims of the incident to reach out to authorities.

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

Uranium Finance, built on the BNB Chain and modeled after the automated market maker Uniswap, launched its first version on April 1, 2021.

Less than a month later, on April 28, hackers exploited vulnerabilities in the platform’s v2 smart contracts, allowing them to manipulate balances and siphon funds.

The exploit enabled the attackers to inflate Uranium’s token balance by a factor of 100, leading to the theft of approximately $50 million in digital assets.

The stolen funds at the time included about $36.8 million in BNB and Binance USD (BUSD). Other assets taken during the attack were 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 attacker laundered the stolen funds by converting Polkadot and Cardano tokens into Ether, which was then funneled through the privacy tool Tornado Cash and moved to various centralized exchanges.

The April 28 incident wasn’t Uranium’s first breach. Earlier that month, on April 8, the platform’s v1 liquidity pool was exploited, resulting in the theft of $1.3 million in BNB and BUSD. In response, Uranium launched its v2 platform on April 16, only for it to be compromised 12 days later.

Since the hack, Uranium Finance’s website has been taken down, and its social media accounts have remained inactive, leaving victims without clear avenues for compensation until now. Investigators continue to seek additional information from affected users.

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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.

While the decrease is a positive sign for industry security, the figure still represents a sharp ninefold increase from December 2024, when crypto hackers stole just $3.8 million, according to a 30 January 2025 report from Immunefi.

However, February 2025 has so far been the worst month in terms of hacks. For one, Dubai-based ByBit suffered a hack on February 21 that drained its ETH cold wallet, leading to $1.5 billion worth of crypto stolen.

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