There’s no silver lining in lifting half a million dollars from a community piggybank. Unless it’s the bars on the cell you’ll end up, a post on X seemed to say after a Solana developer made away with Cypher Protocol’s funds.
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Withdrawal without Permmission is Theft
A contributor on Solana-based Cypher Protocol going by the alias “Hoak” confessed on a Tuesday post how his gambling habit led him to steal around $500,000 in community funds.
In his confession post, he likely didn’t use the phrase “oopsie-daisy,” but you can almost hear it between the lines as he paints the picture of a remorseful gambler who, against all odds (pun intended), believed his next bet would finally turn things around. Spoiler alert: It didn’t.
Related: What Happens to Lost Bitcoin?
To be honest, the *get-rich-quick scheme *turned into one of history’s *get-poor-fast disaster* His trades were nothing close to profitable but a losing streak that left a path of destruction on its way downwards.
And when it dawned on him what he had done, he realized community funds weren’t exactly monopoly money to gamble as you wish ; Hoak took the difficult decision to come clean.
But not without sounding, “Should I confess or just take up permanent residence in a non-extradition country?” While all the odds were against him throughout his gambling spree, it seems the long hand of the law will be in his favor when it comes looking for him.
“Whatever comes next is in God’s hands. I’m sorry I fucked up. Hoak” Read the conclusion to the Solana developer’s public statement, which seemed to intone, I have messed up big and in a way that would make a reality TV show cringe.I don’t expect anyone to give me a pass, pat me on the back, or offer me a guest spot on a daytime talk show. No. From here, I expect pitchforks and torches, which to be fair, seems about right.
One Karma Led to Another: Mango Markets Precipitated Hoak’s Itchy Fingers Habit
As per the figures made public by Barret, Cypher Protocol’s core contributor, the lost funds include $314, 674 in USDC, SOL and USDT which were withdrawn to Binance from Hoak’s wallet. Additionally, the same wallet accumulated ETH, RLB, USDT, USDC, BONK, WSOL, JitoSOL, ORCA, RAY, and mSOL worth approximately $184,077.
Hoak confesses in the statement that several events “snowballed into a crippling gambling addiction” and ended up causing psychological problems that went unchecked for way too long. He also puts an amount of blame on the 2022 Mango Markets hack where hackers made away with $100 million. He says that his brother was among the first victims of the hack.
“Coincidentally, what someone else did to me and my brother was the same thing I ended up doing to Max.” reads part of the statement where he also mentions an event that took place during 2021’s Solana Breakpoint Conference as one of the triggers that led to his habit.
Barret subsequently posted details about the theft on his X timeline which include a set wallet address associated with Hoak.
According to the core contributor, the theft took place through 36 withdrawal transactions spread out over months.
Apparently for Hoak, Karma isn’t a gift on Reddit. Probably this might be the reason he has also decided to come clean.
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