25-2-2025 – American authorities have successfully recovered approximately $31 million in digital assets connected to the notorious Uranium Finance breach of 2021. The Southern District of New York, working in concert with Homeland Security Investigations’ San Diego division, announced the seizure via social media platform X.
The recovery effort sheds new light on one of the most intriguing cryptocurrency heists in recent memory, which began with a seemingly innocuous code modification. The perpetrator exploited a minute calculation error in the platform’s balance modifier logic during a routine upgrade to version 2.1, leading to catastrophic consequences for the Binance Smart Chain-based protocol.
The devastating breach resulted in the theft of an eye-watering $50 million worth of digital assets, including substantial holdings of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and various other cryptocurrencies. The stolen cache comprised 80 BTC, 1,800 ETH, substantial amounts of stablecoins including 17.9 million BUSD and 5.7 million USDT, alongside significant quantities of ADA, DOT, and the platform’s native token, U92.
Questions surrounding the timing of the attack continue to perplex investigators. The exploit occurred mere days following the platform’s V2 deployment, and the subsequent removal of Uranium’s contract repository from GitHub raised eyebrows throughout the cryptocurrency community. These circumstances, coupled with a previous $1.3 million security breach earlier that month, fuelled widespread speculation about potential insider involvement.
In an peculiar twist to the tale, investigators discovered that the perpetrator had attempted to obscure their digital trail through various means, including the purchase of rare Magic: The Gathering cards. The hacker employed sophisticated laundering techniques, utilising Tornado Cash for transaction obscurement and AnySwap for cross-chain transfers.
Whilst the recovered sum represents only a portion of the total stolen assets, this breakthrough demonstrates law enforcement’s increasing capability to track and seize illicit cryptocurrency transactions, despite the deployment of complex laundering mechanisms. The incident ultimately proved terminal for Uranium Finance, leading to its closure and leaving investors in a precarious position.
