Mask Network Founder’s Account Hacked in a $4 Million Crypto Theft

According to Cyvers report, Mask Network founder Suji Yan’s account has been hacked. A suspicious address received nearly $4 million in digital assets before the funds were immediately swapped to ETH and distributed across six different addresses.

Mask Network’s native token, MASK, has been nearly 50% down in the past three months, and this incident could further impact its price. 

Hackers Target Mask Network Founder

The breach involved a complex mix of tokens. The suspicious address collected 113 ETH, 923 WETH, 301 ezETH, 156 weETH, 90 pufET, 48,400 MASK, 50,000 USDT, and 15 swETH. 

Reports from Web3 security firm Cyvers reflect that the hack unfolded rapidly. Following the initial acquisition of nearly $4 million worth of cryptocurrency, the hackers converted the stolen assets to ETH. 

The ETH was then dispersed evenly to six separate addresses, a maneuver likely intended to obscure the money trail and complicate efforts to trace the funds.

“Our system has identified a suspicious $4 million transfer linked to an address associated with Suji Ya, founder of Mask Network. The stolen assets were swiftly converted to ETH and dispersed across multiple addresses, indicating a well-coordinated laundering attempt. This incident underscores the increasing sophistication of threat actors in the Web3 space and highlights the urgent need for real-time transaction monitoring, preemptive prevention, and rapid incident response,” Meir Dolev, Co-founder & CTO at Cyvers told BeInCrypto. 

Mask Network, which bridges mainstream social media with blockchain technology, has yet to release an official statement confirming the hack. 

However, the founder, Suji Yan, has confirmed the hack on his social media. According to him, the hack is likely to have occurred at his birthday party yesterday. Yan alluded to the idea of an offline attack, as he was away from his phone for a few moments during the party.

Overall, Yan confirmed that the funds were transferred manually from his wallet. More details are yet to be revealed.

“6 hours ago, I turned 29. About 3 hours ago, $4 million was stolen from one of my public wallets. All of the stolen transactions appear to have been manually transferred and lasted for more than 11 minutes. So, either my private keys were compromised on my birthday and the hacker manually moved the funds, or this could have been an offline attack. I was at a private party with a dozen friends and my phone was away from me for a few minutes, like when I went to the bathroom. I trusted my friends, but this situation is a nightmare for anyone,” Yan wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

Crypto hacks and scams have massively increased in the first two months of 2025. Last week, North Korea’s Lazarus Group carried out the biggest hack in crypto history, the Bybit attack.At the same time, several high-profile social media accounts are almost regularly being hacked to promote fake meme coins. The latest incident is part of this growing trend that has been plaguing the industry.