Analysis: Suspected Hack Manipulating THE Collateral Liquidation Resulting in Venus Facing ~$2.15 Million Liquidation Shortfall

BlockBeats News, March 15th. According to on-chain analyst Yu Jin's monitoring, an address that received 7,400 ETH from Tornado Cash (suspected hacker) led to tonight's CAKE and THE collateral liquidation event. This event caused Venus Protocol to experience approximately a $2.15 million liquidation shortfall (about 1.18 million CAKE and 1.84 million THE), while the address borrowed assets worth about $5.07 million from Venus (2,172 BNB, 151,600 CAKE, and 20 BTC).

The specific process is as follows: The address first received 7,400 ETH from Tornado Cash via 0x7a7...234, then borrowed about $9.92 million stablecoins (USDT, DAI, USDC) through Aave collateral, and dispersed them to multiple wallets to buy THE.

At around 8:00 PM tonight, it allegedly pumped THE's price on a CEX (potentially preparing long positions in advance), then deposited 36.1 million THE into Venus using two wallets as collateral, borrowing BTC, BNB, CAKE, and other assets.

Approximately 40 minutes later, THE price suddenly plummeted (suspected closing long positions and opening short positions). As the collateral value rapidly declined, its position in Venus was forcibly liquidated, further intensifying THE's decline. In the end, the collateral of the two wallets was completely liquidated, but there was still about $2.15 million in outstanding debt, forming Venus's bad debt.

Overall, the address orchestrated the operation with a $9.92 million loan, while the assets lent on-chain were only about $5.07 million, showing no direct profit on-chain. However, it likely profited from triggering on-chain liquidation to depress THE's price and profit from short positions on the CEX.