Oct 2020 - AmplyFi.Money Exit Scam - $885k (Global)
The "AmplYfi project [was an] Ample[fo]rth fork." "The Ampleforth protocol translates price-volatility into supply-volatility. This means the number of AMPL tokens in user wallets automatically increases or decreases based on price. These supply adjustments are called "Rebases" and rebases occur once each day. When the AMPL network grows you'll automatically have more tokens, when the AMPL network shrinks you'll automatically have fewer tokens, but the price per AMPL will tend to cycle around $1. This novel rebasing mechanism is what allows AMPL to be used in contracts."
"Amplyfi.money made headlines in the sector after collecting 2,500 ETH from investors and then magically disappearing into thin air."
The project "[r]ug pulled after collecting 2,500 ETH from investors. According to a message left on the website, the Amplyfi.money team claim that “one of the devs compromised wallet and was able to use a little-known vulnerability in the compiler itself.” It adds that “devs are receiving a fair amount of threats, so we decided to terminate the project.”"
"AMPLYFI contract was hacked." "Apparently one of the devs compromised wallet and was able to use a little-known vulnerability in compiler itself." "Devs are receiving a fair amount of threats so we decided to terminate the project"
"According to the telegram channel Drops Daily, project gathered during a private sale of 2500 ETH, and then safely scammed. All social networks and chats have been removed at the moment."
Further Analysis
AmplyFi was a copy of the well-known AmpleForth protocol, and gained some investment. The project team was anonymous and apparently one of the team members ran away with the funds.
How Could This Have Been Prevented?
Having a lightweight and reasonable framework for platforms would reduce the need for platforms to launch under the table, and in response, investors would expect greater transparency for who is behind the project. In this case, the funds were purportedly taken by a single team member, so it seems that a multi-signature arrangement would have removed this risk.
More Cryptocurrency Exchange Hacks/Scams/Frauds
DeFi Saver/imToken DAI Reduction > > < < UniSwap UniCats Scam
Sources/Further Reading
CipherTrace Cryptocurrency Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Report 2020 (Jun 20)
Top 10 Bitcoin Scams to Avoid in 2021 - Securities.io (Jul 12)
Amplyfi.Money Holders (Jul 12)
Rug Pulling Threatens Defi - Ideas - yearn.finance (Jun 5)
Trezor Ethereum Explorer (Jul 12)
List of Defi scams (Jul 12)
[SCAM] AmplYfi (Jul 12)
AmpleForth.org (Jul 12)
AYFI币交易平台_转让1121枚Amplyfi.Money (AYFI)币 (Jul 13)
Newsletter #11 (Jul 12)
12 Defi Con Artists Exposed – Are Rug Pulling Incidents Threatening the Future of Defi ? – Bitcoin worldReport (Jul 24)
Worldwide crypto & NFT rug pulls and scams tracker - Comparitech (Dec 31)
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