- Chainflip announced the 1.7.10 upgrade will be ready for testing and deployment in 24-72 hours.
- The cross-chain AMM says the move will block Bybit hackers or other attackers from using the platform to launders stolen funds.
Cross-chain automated market maker Chainflip has announced an upcoming upgrade. When deployed, the platform will block Bybit hackers from using its decentralized exchange protocol.
The platform’s move follows the recent $1.4 billion hack on Bybit, which had North Korea-backed Lazarus Group looting over 400,000 ETH from the exchange’s cold wallet.
“After discussions amongst the team, community, liquidity providers on the network, all the major interfaces using Chainflip, and a majority of validator providers, we’re moving ahead with a plan to enable interfaces to robustly block illicit flows in the Chainflip protocol,” the Chainflip team said in an article posted on X.
— CHAINFLIP LABS (@Chainflip) February 24, 2025
According to Chainflip, there’s been consensus across its community for the upgrade. This is because the community sees illicit flows as something that “endangers the protocol by exposing LPs to too much risk.”
The decision to deploy the 1.7.10 upgrade therefore stems from the overall desire to protect the interests of ordinary users. On Feb. 22, the protocol put its main interface swaps platform in maintenance mode to prevent the Bybit hackers from swapping stolen ETH for USDC.
Expanding broker screening feature
Chainflip says it has collaborated with ecosystem partners and other providers. The goal is to prevent these funds and other illicit flows from touching the protocol.
With the upgrade, the protocol now expands a broker-level screening feature that allows for Bitcoin (BTC) deposits to be rejected if deemed to be high-risk to Ethereum (ETH) and all ERC20 tokens.
“Going forward, Chainflip will not be useful to anyone whose wallet can be linked to any major incident, hack, fraud, or scam. This will allow Chainflip to provide a vastly more reliable and secure environment for LPs to commit more capital with lower risk, thus improving service to DeFi users everywhere,” the platform added.
Chainflip developers have already written most of the code, and testing and deployment could go live within 24 to 72 hours.
