Because of an error in the protocol of the ‘decentralized’ exchange Bisq, approximately 3 bitcoin (BTC) and 4000 Monero (XMR) were stolen from seven users. The exchange hit the emergency brake and temporarily stopped all trades on their platform.

The exchange explains the situation to Coindesk: “We discovered an attacker who could use an error in the Bisq trade protocol code to steal cryptocurrency.” According to the stock exchange, it’s about $250,000 in XMR and BTC in total.

According to the current communication it concerns seven different victims who together lost a lot of money because of this mistake.

Theft

The attacker was able to change the ‘return address’ of several users. When a trade fails, the cryptocurrency will be returned to the previously known address.

In this way, the criminal was able to replace the address with an address of his own and steal the bitcoin and monero. A transaction like this cannot be reversed, after the transaction has been processed in a block it is final.

Bisq

Bisq is a protocol that allows you to leave your BTC at your own address and be able to trade anyway. Meanwhile Bisq says that the error has been fixed and trading on the platform is open again. Traders can use the protocol anonymously, no registration or identification is needed.

Due to the decentralized nature of the protocol, the developers were able to stop trading on their platform, but users could ignore the measure and still trade.

No measures can be taken by Bisq against the criminal, just like bitcoin, anyone can use it. In fact, the attacker simply used the functionalities of the protocol, but the question is how local authorities will judge this if the attacker will ever caught.

Source