Shiba Inu’s offer to help BitMart after a $196M hack hints at a hard fork?

Key Takeaways:

• Crypto exchange BitMart was the target a hack, losing $196 million to malicious elements.
• Memecoin Shiba Inu’s community offered its help, but the underlying sentiment hints of Ethereum’s famous DAO hardfork.

NEW DELHI (CoinChapter.com) — Shiba Inu’s offer to help hacked crypto exchange BitMark has a subtle hint of an Ethereum’s DAO-esque hardfork if the going gets tough for the canine-themed coin.

In one of the most devastating crypto-related hacks, crypto exchange BitMart was the target of hacker(s) who siphoned off $196 million in various cryptocurrencies.

Security analysis firm Peckshied first highlighted the attack, noting that the hacker stole around $100 million from the Ethereum blockchain and $96 million from the Binance Smart Chain.

Although the exchange’s official telegram channel initially claimed news of the hack was a hoax, BitMart CEO Sheldon Xia later confirmed the attack.

1/3 We have identified a large-scale security breach related to one of our ETH hot wallets and one of our BSC hot wallets. At this moment we are still concluding the possible methods used. The hackers were able to withdraw assets of the value of approximately USD 150 millions.

— Sheldon Xia (@sheldonbitmart) December 5, 2021

On Monday, Mr. Xia tweeted that the breach resulted from a stolen key that compromised two of the exchange’s hot wallets. The Bitmart founder also promised users that the exchange would compensate affected users. He further assured of operations resuming from Dec 7.

Also Read: The crypto dip: Buying opportunity or the start of a bubble burst.

2/4 BitMart will use our own funding to cover the incident and compensate affected users. We are also talking to multiple project teams to confirm the most reasonable solutions such as token swaps. No user assets will be harmed.

— Sheldon Xia (@sheldonbitmart) December 6, 2021

After the BitMart CEO confirmed the hack, crypto exchange Huobi and memecoin Shiba Inu tweeted their support for the crypto exchange.

Dear #ShibArmy,

Even though the core of our project is decentralization, we want to show our support and give some love to our friends at @BitMartExchange, who are already working hard to fix the security incident that happened yesterday. pic.twitter.com/CJZjQHaP59

— Shib (@Shibtoken) December 5, 2021

In its tweet extending support to BitMart, Shiba Inu emphasized its core objective of being a ‘decentralized’ project. However, with Shiba Inu recently issuing warnings about scams related to its token SHIB, the memecoin would likely have to resort to harsher measures to ensure hackers don’t take advantage of any network shortcomings.

Shiba Inu – Not A Hard No To Hardfork?

Shiba Inu (SHIB) is a meme token that relies mostly on social media hype for its price action. Nevertheless, SHIB has had an impressive run in 2021, up by more than 268,000% from its prices at the same time last year.

Hackers targeted Ethereum during its nascent years. In 2016, a decentralized autonomous organization launched on Ethereum’s blockchain to raise money for various Web 3.0. The organization had the slightly confusing name ‘The DAO.’

It raised $150 million before hackers exploited vulnerabilities in its code. As a result, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin proposed a controversial hardfork to help recover the funds lost in the cyber heist.

However, there was a division with the crypto community, with certain elements stating that the code-is-law rule applies here. The other side believed that the network should protect the interests of its users. Meanwhile, a vote, in which only 5.5% of Ether’s then active supply participated, polled in favor of the hardfork.

Also Read: Could Robinhood add Shiba Inu to its service portfolio? It better shouldn’t.

In the recent BitMart hack, the attackers stole nearly $32 million worth of SHIB tokens. As such, Shiba Inu might resort to a hardfork or similar measures to recover lost funds. However, will the developers let go if the community votes against recovery measures like a hardfork?

Recovering funds is vital to ensure credibility with users. Yet, if the entire community does not support a decision for a hardfork, and the network still goes through with it, the decentralization concept fails. For example, the ETH hardfork was controversial as developers did not wait for the majority of the community to vote.

As a result, the ETH hardfork was analogous to a corporate house trying to save itself from certain doom by changing the game altogether. Ensuring user safety is important, but so is maintaining the principles of decentralization.

Shiba Inu is almost at the same stage as Ethereum in 2016, still trying to establish a name and use case. Nevertheless, its recent gains have attracted several new users to its platform. But, unfortunately, losing investors’ money might be the end of the project in its relative infancy.

As such, would a major loss push Shiba developers to give decentralization the boot?