Updated Jun 2024.
I am a staker in STFil and am deeply affected by this police investigation saga. I will try, to the best of my knowledge to share what I have found out on this incident. Should you have more information or found my information to be inaccurate, please contact me or leave a comment here.
The story is still developing. Make sure to bookmark this page and I will update when there is any key finding.
What it is: STFil is a Filecon liquid staking launched on FVM since 2023. It enables $FIL token holders to earn stable returns without a lock-up period and provides collateral for storage providers to engage in leveraged farming.
What happened: On 9 Apr, STFil announced on X that the core technical team is under investigation by the local Chinese policy and all the funds are locked.
We believe that the STFIL core technical team is under investigation by local Chinese police, and we understand lawyers have been hired to understand the current situation and provide legal assistance to the individuals under detention.
— STFIL Protocol 🏔️ (@stfil_io) April 9, 2024
Last week, when the core technical team…
Timeline
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4/6 multisig approved to upgrade to an unverified smart contract
3 April 2024 - 4 out of 6 Multisig who controls a time-delayed admin contract approved to upgrade to an unverified smart contract
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Proxy Contract was changed
5 April 2024 - Main staking pool 's proxy contract was changed to this.
The contract was decompiled and found that unstake and withdrawal in the smart contract can only be performed by this address.
require(0xacb203a9fd718d8cd375c17162fb0304fe4ba30f == msg.sender, Error('INVALID_OWNER'));
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Users unable to stake/unstake
5 April 2024 - Users reported in telegram group that they are unable to stake or unstake.
Error encounter: "reason="failed to estimate gas: message execution failed: exit 33, revert reason: Error(INVALID_OWNER)"
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STFIL China request to delay NV22 Dragon Updates
6 April 2022 - A China STFIL rep requested in slack that they are unable to meet the upgrade on 10th April. Below are the message.
It was assessed that if their nodes were not able to upgrade in time, they would lose power and subsequently their depositor collateral will be affected.
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ga6a Address was created
6 April 2024 - The infamous ga6a address was created and about 2 millions FIL was transferred to this wallet on 6 April itself.
Initially, this wallet was created as 'placeholder' but subequently was upgraded as 'EthAccount' after it send FIL to another wallet.
f410falck3ysg7e2k4outtq2r24ytd66cuddydnoga6a
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nv22 Dragon Updates delayed by 2 weeks
8 April 2024 - It was announced in slack that the nv22 Dragon update will be delayed by 2 weeks to 24 April 2024.
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STFIL Announced on X
9 April 2024 - STFIL announced on X that STFIL core technical team is under investigation by local Chinese police.
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Kate X, STFIL LINKEDIN deleted
10 Apr 2024 - Kate's X, a CMO under STFIL, was deleted. Her telegram was deleted on the same day as well.
You can still view the presentation by her at filecoin conference in 2023 though.
STFIL Linkedin was deleted as well.
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Proxy Contract updated
10 April 2024 - The proxy contract was updated.
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GA6A has 4.2 millions FIL
11 April 2024 - FIL were transferred from the main staking pool contract to this address on a daily basis. As of 11 April 2024, it has 4.2 millions of FIL.
Based on STFil website, it has a remaining of 760k of FIL under collateral. i,e almost 75% of the FIL were taken away.
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Proposal to Freeze Account in L1
12 April 2024 - A FIP proposal was submitted to freeze the ga6a account. However, the key members and majority feel that this is not a DAO hack and should not apply censorship in L1.
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Announcement from Hanshou Police
6 June 2024 - Refer to this official wechat announcement link, the police require lessors to file write in to them by 10 Jul 2024. Otherwise it will be liquidated and disposed of in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.
I have called in myself if foreigner need to visit the policy station physically. They said foreigner can send in hard copy form. You may call in yourself to clarify and confirm.
Following are the groups where you can find more information an updates:-
HanShou Police WeChat Announcement