kc

Onchain Researcher and DeFi Analyst
Prev Crypto Market Making + MEV Research
Econ @ucl @dartmouth

[kc @KOBRACAIx]

Hey bro, sorry this happened to you.

My quick assessment of what happened. The exploit looks like a private key leak rather than related to any malicious transactions, as the attacker has full control over signing operations across multiple chains: Ethereum, Base and BSC. It looks like the drain was done manually, as the bulk of the exploit occurred over the course of around 30 mins from 00:37 to 00:56 UTC.

My suspicion is that the hacker gained access to your private key through telegram - as they made a transaction through Sigma (0xb81f9f0a1abb2330763d7b9498185404277955a18b3f766a31582c83ba70047e on Base)

This is likely not a problem with the Sigma trading bot, but a phishing attack through telegram - either you used a malicious Captcha bot (most likely guess). Or you were SIM swapped and someone has access to your telegram (less likely IMO).

I would consider this wallet fully compromised and would refrain from using it again.

Looks like the bulk of the exploit took $172k across mainly Base ($125k in $POD) tokens, BSC ($21k in $FHE) and Ethereum ($ETH). The attacker drained the ETH on mainnet and came back by funding dust into your Eth wallet to take the remaining $SAT1 tokens.

Sadly these funds are unrecoverable as they are now in his own EOA 0xF7cFFC27732a5C9c4E2D592F3E33435F8dDb019A predominantly on Base.

[DAN KOE @thedankoe]

A core sign of low intelligence is not being able to hold two contradictory ideas in your mind at once.

Most people treat an idea as a team to join.

Once they join that team, the opposing view becomes a threat. You stop thinking and start reacting.

[kc @KOBRACAIx]

@clickl3ss ggwp

[kc @KOBRACAIx]

@sqalef both blockchains have strong security guarantees but ETH opens you up to smart contract risks through token approvals

also counterparty risk from the UBTC issuer

[kc @KOBRACAIx]

@Sychype in jeff we trust

[kc @KOBRACAIx]

The current market feels eerily similar to early-mid 2023.

- People have left the industry with no plan to ever return
- Firms that were once core to the market structure are shutting down (This time less spectacularly, RIP Bitmex)
- There is no core narrative to save crypto, with many crypto natives feeling like it was all a failed experiment
- Altcoins down 99% and most will never recover

There are plenty of reasons to be bearish on tokens; Bitcoin quantum risk, interest rate hikes, stock market is down, geopolitical conflict, inflation fears, Clarity Act unlikely to pass.

It feels like there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

But back then, all it took was a false rumour that the Bitcoin ETFs were approved, which led to a market wide rally and for sidelined capital to realise that they were… Sidelined.

Who knows what it will be this time, but the snow is melting and Crypto Winter is coming to an end.

Take a moment to look around and be grateful that you are still here. Spring is on the horizon.

[kc @KOBRACAIx]

@ripdotxyz what does he know?

[kc @KOBRACAIx]

@TomCryptoDefi Gm

[Haseeb ＞|＜ @hosseeb]

Ironically, this whole drama with Balaji literally validated the network state thesis.

The whole idea of a network state is taking a dense group of talent and capital, and collectively negotiating with states. The Malaysia drama set up Balaji to negotiate better terms with another state to copy and paste the network there.

This now looks like a much more stable setup.

Guess I'll be visiting Kazakhstan!

[kc @KOBRACAIx]

@SageWhale that's my quant

[kc @KOBRACAIx]

@AaronTeng really feels like Asia is leading the charge

[kc @KOBRACAIx]

@Innerdevcrypto wholesome one

[kc @KOBRACAIx]

@SolveMaxwell We like the cats

[kc @KOBRACAIx]

@Beliukh_ hypurrliquid

[kc @KOBRACAIx]

@Tyler_Did_It Casually dropped 438 bands on a PFP

[kc @KOBRACAIx]

@LucyofX @Obaidsview @ns agreed, it is bringing in a lot of talent, maybe they can create programs to support local Malaysians attending at subsidised rates

[kc @KOBRACAIx]

My two cents after having spent the past 2.5 years in the region:

It feels obvious that @ns is a serious positive influence on Malaysia's emergence as a Global Technology powerhouse. There is clearly massive demand in SE Asia for an ecosystem where bright minds from different nationalities can come together and build the technology of the future.

The adjacency with Singapore and existing plans to improve transport in the Region with Johor Bahru is a major catalyst for Economic expansion in the region - that could soon grow into the "Silicon Valley" of Asia.

If @balajis can give greater assurances on compliant immigration standards being held, and help promote the country of Malaysia. This partnership would be a major catalyst that could draw in talent from all over the region, and help cement Malaysia's lead over other smaller startup ecosystems across Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Rooting for both parties to win. @ns and Malaysia (Boleh)

[Balaji @balajis]

Should the global tech community continue investing in Malaysia?

Given recent events, I raise this question respectfully for the consideration of Prime Minister Yang Amat Berhormat Dato’ Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim (@anwaribrahim), for the people of Malaysia, and for our friends in the Malaysian tech community. The answer will be of interest to anyone in global tech that’s considering building, investing, or expanding in Malaysia, including executives at Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft, founders of tech unicorns like Coinbase and Solana, and investors at the world’s largest venture capital funds like a16z and Polychain.

As context, I am the former CTO of Coinbase and former General Partner at a16z. In October 2024, I opened a startup society called Network School in Malaysia, because I felt I’d been invited in by the government’s pro-tech policies.

Specifically, the KL20 initiative set out Malaysia’s ambition of becoming a top 20 global tech hub. Their MDEC digital nomad visas and MM2H investor visas were created to facilitate an influx of global talent and capital. And the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone was announced to facilitate the flow of capital and talent between Malaysia and Singapore, where I live. When taken in combination with Malaysia’s datacenter buildout and its policy of welcoming visa-free visits for 98% of the world, it seemed like Malaysia might be a great place to build a global tech hub that was simultaneously inexpensive and easy to visit (especially for non-Westerners).

And that’s what we did, by creating Network School. It’s an international tech community with its first node in Forest City, Malaysia. We picked Forest City because it had millions of square feet of empty space, because it was one hour from Singapore’s capital markets, and because it was within the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone. Then, within 18 months, without a single penny of government money, we built Network School into a global attraction that brought thousands of engineers, investors, and builders from 70+ countries to learn technology, burn calories, earn online, and have fun, integrating with the local Malaysian economy along the way.

Indeed, in terms of quantifiable contribution to the Malaysian economy, we’ve already invested 100M+ MYR in our campus to make it startup-friendly. For perspective, that’s about 4% of the budget of Johor, the Malaysian state where Forest City is located. We employ dozens of Malaysians directly and indirectly at every level from executive to staff. We’ve backed Malaysian tech startups like Collektr, hosted events for local teams like Superteam Malaysia, and are major customers of many local businesses like barbers, laundromats, and restaurants. We’ve also revitalized the multibillion-dollar Forest City project, causing millions of MYR in real estate appreciation. And, as the video below describes, we were on the cusp of a 500M+ MYR expansion to grow our community, as well as a global merit scholarship with my friend Amjad Masad of Replit.

However, that emerging multi-billion dollar success story — which should rightfully have been hailed as a huge victory for the pro-tech policies of the Malaysian government — is at risk of being derailed by a fake story spread by an anonymous account named MP4P.

In short: on the day before the July 11 Johor elections, MP4P posted an Instagram post falsely accusing Network School of harboring illegal aliens. The sensational accusations caused a tizzy in Malaysia, until Malaysian authorities came to our campus on July 14 to investigate. (I should note that the officers were very polite and professional.) After checking hundreds of physical passports from 40 countries, including dual passport holders, the authorities confirmed to the press on July 15 that all travel documents were in order. During the process, we cooperated fully; in the thread below you can see a photo of the men, women, and children of Network School smiling and holding up their passports in the bright daylight. Our faces are shown and our names are known; we have nothing to hide.

With that said, the process is the punishment. What MP4P did is very similar to the American crime of “swatting”, because MP4P created a hoax report of a serious threat, thereby forcing the Malaysian police to take time away from protecting the Malaysian people towards investigating a nonexistent issue. Moreover, this anonymous MP4P account has also called for Malaysia to boycott Apple, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft…a move that would cost ordinary Malaysians thousands of jobs…even while MP4P’s own Instagram collaborators promote their Apple and Google apps! I mean, we aren’t talking about a credible accuser, but just someone screaming inconsistently at the top of their lungs on social media for traffic, an all-too-common phenomenon these days.

Anyway, at this point, all further investment we were planning to make in Malaysia is on hold until we get sufficient assurance that such issues won’t recur. So are the investment plans of many of our friends, including the execs and investors at global tech firms that we brought to Forest City. Because to put it very plainly: we have invested 100M+ MYR in Malaysia, while creating jobs for dozens of Malaysians, and our faces and names are known. Our Malaysian executives and employees deserve the benefit of the doubt over anonymous internet trolls.

There are two paths forward. In the first case, if Malaysia still wants continued global tech investment, if it wants to be a top 20 tech hub, if it wants us to revitalize Forest City, then we request an audience with the Prime Minister’s office to discuss the terms of a memorandum of understanding between Network School and the Malaysian government, similar to the document recently signed between the Solana Foundation and the Kazakhstan government.

Specifics can of course be discussed, but we would publicly commit to abiding by all Malaysian laws (we already do) and respecting Malaysia’s sovereignty (never in question). In return, they’d get to know our friendly community, and realize that we actually chose Malaysia because we thought it was a great place to build a tech hub where engineers from the global South, investors from the West, and builders from Malaysia itself could meet new people, build cool things, and perhaps create millions of dollars in economic growth in the fullness of time.

That vision of peace and trade, internationalism and entrepreneurialism, is still on the table. We aren’t asking for any money — just a meeting, to help restore confidence in Malaysia as an investable jurisdiction. Alternatively, if you don’t want our investment, or those of our colleagues at billion dollar funds and trillion dollar companies, we will of course respect your wishes, and reallocate our capital to other countries instead.

Either way, we will remain friends and abide by your decision. Please let us know.

[kc @KOBRACAIx]

Singapore’s rental prices price out a large amount of talent.

Johor is much more affordable, and Malaysia’s recent immigration policies MM2H and DE Rantau Digital Nomad Visa show intent of attracting online talent to Malaysia

Singapore’s ecosystem supports high-earning expats working at larger corporations on an Employment Pass

These are two different profiles:
- Digital nomad, working on a startup idea from Forest City
- High Earning Expat moved to the Singaporean Office of their multi-national organisation

[kc @KOBRACAIx]

@eli0xeli @ns agreed, he could have done better on comms

[kc @KOBRACAIx]

20 years ago global talent wouldn’t flock to Malaysia the way it does today. Now Malaysia has a massive opportunity to put itself on the map as a serious place for innovation.

Driving out a community with the highest talent density in South East Asia is a clear misstep in policy. This is a serious chance to build strong relationships with Western Technology leaders, this decisions will send a signal to Founders around the world whether or not they are welcome to come and innovate within Malaysia.

[kc @KOBRACAIx]

@ahchoen @ns Penang is great, I hope Malaysia continues to be a great place for tech

[kc @KOBRACAIx]

@vedantutage03 @ns couldn’t have put it better