Base, Coinbase’s new layer 2, has been absolutely operational for every week and has already seen an inflow of dangerous actors. Within the newest incident, crypto lender SwirlLend, previously energetic on Base and Linea, has apparently carried out an exit rip-off, in any other case often called a rug pull. 

PeckShield reported in a put up on X (former Twitter) on Aug. 16 that SwirlLend transferred round $289,500 value of cryptocurrency from Base. It later transferred 94 Ether (ETH) from Linea as effectively, bridging the crypto to Ethereum. It then created a brand new token and laundered 253.2 ETH by way of the Twister Money crypto mixer.

SwirlLend has shut down its social media accounts and web site. Its whole worth locked on Base has fallen from $784,300 to $49,200.

Associated: Coinbase layer-2 network Base hits 136,000 daily active users

The SwirlLend rug pull got here two days after Base venture RocketSwap, a decentralized trade, experienced an $865,000 exploit. Earlier than that — and even earlier than the platform was formally open to the general public — the BALD coin lost 85% of its value on July 31, after the developer “added/eliminated 2 sided liquidity and purchased.”

Rip-off Alert

Watch out for suspicious actions involving @SwirlLend, a lending/borrowing protocol on Linea and Base.

Background investigation has proven {that a} group member impersonated our CSO months in the past, by adopting his Telegram username and profile image. This unethical…

— SolidProof.io Official (@SolidProof_io) August 5, 2023

There could also be extra bother forward for Base, judging from a weblog put up by crypto commerce surveillance service Solidus Labs. The corporate discovered greater than 500 rip-off tokens on Base, it reported. Amongst these had been 300 tokens with hidden features to mint limitless numbers of tokens. Additionally, 70 contained hidden transaction charges and 60 wouldn’t permit patrons to resell their tokens.

Scammers have made off with $2 million value of crypto thus far, in response to Solidus. That was along with “delicate” rug pulls resembling BALD, which Solidus Labs estimated value customers $5.2 million.

Coinbase announced the launch of its Ethereum-based Base in February. It began onboarding developers on July 13 and opened the platform to users on Aug. 9.

Coinbase didn’t reply to a Cointelegraph request for remark.

Journal: QuickSwap founder: L2s are the path to mass adoption