Southside, Times Square pulsed beneath me, neon veins throbbing with the city’s digital heartbeat. Here, forget the tourist glitz — this was the blockchain’s underbelly, a symphony of validators humming and nodes whispering, each transaction a cold, blue flicker. Night after night, I perched on this very building, waiting. My target? The Decryption Dynamo, a phantom of the digital underworld, is rumoured to hold secrets deeper than any encrypted vault. Tonight, the city held its breath. A ripple, a tremor in the data stream. The game was on.
He wasn’t always the bad guy. Four years ago, he arrived in Solana city, he was fresh out of college and brimming with ideas. It was a city of opportunities, but for a young and inexperienced developer like him, it proved to be a struggle. Despite being the top graduate of his college, he struggled to find a well-paying job, his dreams slowly fading away.
Dynamo was not one to give up easily. He poured countless hours into merging innovative ideas into existing open-source projects, hoping to catch the attention of potential employers. However, his efforts seemed to be in vain as he received no feedback, and no acknowledgement of his hard work. This injustice infuriated him. How could such a talented individual be pushed aside and ignored? He couldn’t stand idly by and watch his dreams crumble. Determined to make money, he decided to take matters into his own hands.
I detected an unlawful breach into Mango by my bat gear. I sighed. I wanted to do a lot but the security of the ecosystem was bothered with more pressing issues. I dialled 911.
“This is Solana Quick Response Team on the line” I listened, observing with his binoculars.
“There is a breach on the South side, about 20 clicks west of Times Square. I’m going in, ” I said, scanning the breach.
He began with scams, sending malicious NFTs and draining wallets. That’s where I fell victim. I tapped on one of his malicious NFTs and my wallet got drained. My mom’s pensions, my rent, my wife’s health insurance, everything, gone. Now, with just a breach he could get everything that company worked for, hard-earned money, assets, NFTs
Not under my watch…
He slid in through the breach, It was unmistakable. His hard glance, the red lines on his striped shirt, and the joker mask he wore, every damn time he attacked. He was usually everywhere and nowhere, with his IP changing per minute. He couldn’t be tracked, but he wasn’t getting away from me this time, there was too much at stake.
Out of that pain and brokenness, Solflare was born, with the intent of tracking him down. After researching, I realised I was just a number in an infinite pool of scams, and he was behind these atrocities. It was that day I swore I wasn’t going to let him do this to anyone else.
“Stop right there!” I exclaimed, pointing a gun to his head. He raised his arms and turned round.
“Hands above your head! Get down on your knees! ” I shouted and reached for the handcuffs. He grinned
“Solflare, congratulations,” he said, raising his brows. I slowly walked to him and cuffed him
“What’s your price?” He asked as I patrolled him outside. I ignored him, but noticed the beep on his watch, as I looked closely, and I was puzzled. It was a countdown. I quickly flipped him over, with his back against the wall, I questioned
“What is the countdown for?” I demanded, gripping his neck.
“You thought it was going to be that easy? He laughed.
“What’s the countdown for?” I asked as I tightened my grip around his neck.
“I am not going after one wallet, I’m dreaming bigger,” he said, gasping for air. I released his neck and thought about it for a second, Mango was one of the largest treasuries in the Solana ecosystem, a breach could shake us. I heard the sirens outside the building,
“What do you intend to do?” I asked him, leading him down the stairs.
“Already done, my boy” he replied, with a wide grin. I looked back at his watch.
00:03:00
The dispatch just arrived.
“He’s got some game plan, there’s a countdown,” I said, as the officer came to take him off me.
“I’ll scan the area for a hack,” The officer replied, giving orders to his subordinate.
“It’s too late, Solflare” he said, laughing as he was put in the back of the police car, and zoomed off. I stood with my hand on my chin, thinking about his game plan.
Caught red-handed, and he didn’t even flinch, what’s his game plan?
We scanned the area with the anti-threat tech, and couldn't find any sign of an explosive” the officer said, pacing around the entrance.
00:02:00. I began to panic
“ We need to check the security cameras,” he said, rushing to the security room. I followed him behind.
00:00:30
We scanned through the footage. It was then I realised how clueless I had been, I forgot he wasn’t a terrorist, he was a hacker. I looked at the screen and got even more frightened by the things I saw
“If this happens, hundreds of millions of dollars will be stolen from Mango Markets, hurting the entire ecosystem, “ He said, raising his phone to call the station.
00:00:10
“It’s too late to stop this,” I said, as I quickly pulled a chair and tried to override the countdown, to buy some time.
3…2…1…
This went down as one of the largest hacks in Solana's history.
Deceptive Dynamo was charged with fraud for over a billion dollars in the last two years and was sentenced to death. I, however, went on to build the greatest Solana wallet of all time, Solflare, to ensure the security of people’s money, so the likes of Deceptive Dynamo do not sprout up again.
Here I have been. In every downtime, at every breach, I will be there. You could call me whatever you want,
I’m Solana’s Batman.
