Crypto-AI project Astra Nova blames $10 million loss on market maker hack, pledges to buy back tokens

Astra Nova, an AI-crypto project that bills itself as "the first AI Entertainment Ecosystem from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," said a third-party market maker compromise was responsible for the dumping of its recently-launched RVV token on the open market. 

The suspected attacker dumped about 8.6% of the token's supply on the open market, swapping the tokens for about $10.2 million worth of Tether's USDT stablecoin, according to blockchain analyst EmberCN. 

"These 860 million $RVV were sold for 10.288 million USDT, of which 8.226 million USDT was transferred to Gate and Kucoin, while another 2.041 million USDT remains in the on-chain wallet 0x643," EmberCN wrote on X .

The mass sale caused the price of the token, which launched on Saturday, to plummet from as high as $0.028 before the incident to a low of $0.007, before rebounding to its current price of about $0.014, according to GeckoTerminal data , a drop of around 50%. 

Astra Nova's X account addressed the incident in an X post Sunday, acknowledging the incident and reassuring users that the project's smart contracts remain secure. Astra Nova could not be immediately reached for comment by The Block. 

"Unfortunately, one of our MM [market maker] account (3rd party) was compromised, and a malicious actor gained control and began liquidating assets," Astra Nova wrote on X . "We are working with on-chain forensics to trace the breach and will involve law enforcement once evidence collection is complete."

Astra Nova later pledged to buy back the tokens on the open market, and announced a 10% bounty if the stolen funds are returned. "This decision reflects our firm commitment to protecting holders, stabilizing liquidity, and reinforcing long-term confidence in the $RVV ecosystem," Astra Nova wrote on X . In a follow-up X Space , an Astra Nova representative said the project has cut ties with the affected market maker, and said the project's roadmap "remains strong and unchanged." 

The suspected attacker's unusual move to swap the RVV tokens for Tether's USDT stablecoin raised questions for EmberCN. 

"The project team posted on Twitter claiming it was stolen, but I personally have my doubts," EmberCN wrote. "Which hacker would convert stolen assets into USDT and hold onto them? And even transfer them directly to a CEX? USDT can be frozen, and going straight to a CEX—where are there hackers this foolish?"

Astra Nova recently announced a $48.3 million fundraise, building on an earlier fundraising round led by Outlier Ventures with participation from family offices and institutional investors in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. The AI-native entertainment platform offers a suite of low- and no-code tools for spinning up token-powered utilities and mini-apps.