Manta Network Faces Money Laundering Allegations After Recovering From DDoS Attack

Zero-knowledge L2 blockchain Manta Network has been accused of money laundering in South Korea shortly after the blockchain was hit by a DDoS attack.

In an X post published on January 18th, user @Definalist noted that 2 million MANTA tokens were transferred to the personal wallet of Manta’s Korean Business Development representative.

The transaction occurred shortly after MANTA was listed on crypto exchange Binance.

Subsequently, 2 million MANTA tokens were deposited into a Bithumb wallet, representing more than 75% of the exchange’s total circulation volume at that time.

Within 5 minutes of being listed, the price of MANTA on Bithumb witnessed an exceptional surge, reaching $230 and marking a remarkable increase of over 100 times from its initial price of $2.26.

The BD reportedly proceeded to unload all 2 million MANTA tokens at a premium ranging from 50 to 100 times the listing price. The proceeds from the sale, totaling $5.16 million, were then converted to 2094.7 Ethereum.

Finally, the ETH tokens were transferred to the BD’s personal wallet, according to Etherscan.

Addressing these allegations, Manta Network released a statement noting that the transaction was conducted as part of its operational strategy.

The allocation of community funds to the Korean BD was in line with their token economic model, Manta explained, adding that the ultimate objective of the move was the help establish a branch in South Korea.

DDoS Attack on Manta Resolved, Co-Founder Says

The layer-2 blockchain also suffered a DDoS attack shortly after successfully listing its Manta token on multiple exchanges, including Binance, KuCoin, and Bithumb.

Kenny Li, co-founder of the Manta Network, noted that the blockchain experienced a widespread DDoS attack, consisting of the blockchain’s nodes experiencing over 135 million remote procedure call (RPC) requests.

In an update shared on January 18th, Li mentioned that network access to Manta was being restored. The blockchain was reported to be operating safely, product production was proceeding as usual, funds were secure, and communication between apps and the blockchain had been reinstated.

At time of writing, the MANTA token is currently trading at $2.20 with a market cap of $545.76 million, according to CoinMarketCap.