Maestrobots, a group of cryptocurrency bots operating on the Telegram messaging app, has announced that it will refund users after an attack that resulted in the loss of 280 Ethereum (ETH). The platform, which shared the announcement on X (formerly Twitter) on October 25, stated that the Maestro team has refunded users affected by the Maestro Router 2 contract exploit. Maestrobots used its own revenue to cover all user losses, totaling 610 ETH, which was valued at over $1 million at the time of the announcement.
The Maestro team revealed that they refunded part of the amount in the form of affected tokens and ETH. For nine of the 11 exploited tokens, they chose to purchase the tokens and refund users rather than sending ETH, as it was deemed the fairest and most comprehensive refund approach. The team spent 276 ETH to secure users' tokens.
For the two remaining affected tokens, Joe (JOE) and Lockheed Martin Inu (LMI), users were refunded in ETH due to a lack of liquidity to repurchase the lost tokens. The Maestro team increased the amount by 20% to compensate affected users, resulting in a total cost of 334 ETH for these refunds. CertiK, a blockchain security firm, has confirmed the transactions showing Maestro paying users 334 ETH in compensation.
These refunds follow the recent compromise of the MaestroRouter on the Ethereum mainnet, which occurred on October 24. During the attack, hackers used the token to steal approximately 280 ETH, equivalent to around $485,000 at the time. Maestro acted swiftly, identifying the attack within 30 minutes and eliminating the vulnerability. The platform temporarily halted token pools on SushiSwap, ShibaSwap, and ETH PancakeSwap during the incident.
The attack did not compromise any wallets; it was specific to the router, as stated by Maestro. The breach affected a total of 106 user addresses and several tokens, including LMI, JOE, MOG, BANANA, OGGY, JIM, LP, BSC, and PROPHET, among others. While most of these tokens experienced price surges in anticipation of Maestro repurchasing them, the platform assured users that many of these tokens still exist in the market.
Maestro, also known as MaestroBots on X, is a Telegram bot facilitating transactions on Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Arbitrum, with a default transaction fee of 1%. It comprises various bots, including the Maestro Whale Bot, Maestro Sniper Bot, and Maestro Wallet Bot, serving over 100,000 subscribers on its Telegram channel and over 24,000 followers on its X account.
