Crypto music platform Audius came under an attack in the form of a malicious governance proposal that siphoned off over $6.1 million worth of AUDIO tokens, with the hacker making away with $1 million.
On July 24, a malicious proposal initiated an unauthorized transfer of 18 million AUDIO tokens from the community treasury.
Following the incident, Audius put on hold all smart contracts and AUDIO tokens on the Ethereum blockchain to mitigate further losses.
Hours later it resumed token transfers, adding that the “Remaining smart contract functionality is being unpaused after thorough examination/mitigation of the vulnerability.”
Blockchain researcher Peckshield highlighted the project’s inconsistent storage layout as the root cause.
While the attacker stole 18 million tokens worth nearly $6 million from the treasury, it soon dumped and sold for $1.08 million. Investors feared this could trigger panic selling and recommended an immediate buyback to prevent further lowering of the token’s floor price.
Audius recently introduce a feature to tip artists
The Web3 music platform has launched a tipping feature for creators to monetize their content by allowing listeners to send tips to artists, the startup said on the 19th of July.
Audius is an Ethereum and Solana-based streaming service aiming to compete with such giants as Spotify and Apple Music by decentralizing and democratizing the fast-growing industry.
It claims it directs the majority share of music revenue to artists [roughly 90%]. The startup was founded by Roneil Rumburg and Forrest Browning, two electronic music lovers, back in 2018.
Originally launched on the Ethereum blockchain, the blockchain music platform then shifted part of its service to the Solana blockchain in a bid to reduce fees and scale up its performance.
In addition to that, Staked AUDIO tokens are utilized to vote on governance proposals for implementing network upgrades.
Last September, the crypto streaming platform announced a $5 million investment round funded by stellar celebrities such as pop star Katy Perry, The Chainsmokers, Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda, and other heavy hitters within the music industry.
The platform also secured a high-profile partnership with the video-sharing app TikTok in 2021.