We’re secure… period.” That was the lie Nomad told before losing $100M of user funds

According to the Federal Trade Commission, Illusory Systems, Inc. (doing business as Nomad) marketed its “cross-chain bridge” as a “security-first” solution while internally neglecting basic safety protocols.

This corporate negligence culminated in a catastrophic security breach in August 2022, where hackers drained nearly $186 million in assets, resulting in a direct loss of over $100 million for everyday users. While the company’s public face promised “high security,” its internal reality was defined by inadequately tested code and a dismissive attitude toward user safety.

Please continue reading. The details of this case reveal a disturbing pattern of how corporate greed and systemic failures in neoliberal capitalism prioritize rapid deployment over the fundamental safety of the public.

Table of Contents

• The Propaganda of “Security-First”
• A Timeline of Negligence
• The Economic Fallout: Human Costs of Corporate Greed
• Neoliberal Capitalism and the Wealth Disparity Gap
• Corporate Accountability: Why Ethics Matter for Society

The Propaganda of “Security-First”

In the modern era of neoliberal capitalism, we are often told that the market provides the ultimate protection for the consumer. Illusory Systems, Inc., operating under the brand Nomad, became a master of this particular mythology. They saturated the digital landscape with claims that their protocol was “designed in a way that minimizes trust assumptions” and that “security is paramount”. Their CEO even declared on social media: “We’re secure… period”.

However, as the FTC’s findings suggest, these were not statements of fact, but components of a marketing engine designed to manufacture “deep trust” among users who were entrusting the evil company with more assets per capita than its competitors.

This gap between corporate rhetoric and material reality is the hallmark of modern corporate misconduct.

A Timeline of Negligence

The following timeline details how Nomad’s internal failures directly led to the catastrophic loss of user funds.

The Economic Fallout: Human Costs of Corporate Greed

The economic fallout of the Nomad collapse was not felt by the executives who pushed the “rushing code” culture, but by the consumers who lost over $100 million in assets. Behind these numbers are individuals who believed the company’s “security-first” marketing!

The company’s corporate ethics were laid bare when executives reportedly overrode suggestions to reimburse a user for a bug-related loss because it might encourage more claims. Internally, while the public heard promises of safety, the COO admitted “there are no guarantees of safety”. Again, the proof is in the attached PDF at the bottom.

This right here is the essence of corporate greed: privatizing the profits of a “free to use interface” while socializing the risks onto an unsuspecting public.

Neoliberal Capitalism and the Wealth Disparity Gap

This case matters because it illustrates how wealth disparity is maintained in the digital age. By failing to implement “circuit breakers” or a “kill switch” (technologies Nomad’s own marketing even admitted were necessary) the company left the door open for a massive transfer of wealth from users to hackers.

The failure to maintain a Written Information Security Plan (WISP) or an adequate incident response plan meant that when the crisis hit, the company was essentially blind. They were alerted to the $186 million theft not by their own systems, but by a social media user.

This lack of corporate social responsibility is a feature, not a bug, of a system that prioritizes “marketable appeals” over the physical and financial public health of the community!

Corporate Accountability: Why Ethics Matter for Society

When an evil corporation like Illusory Systems fails to conduct basic unit tests or ignores its own engineers’ warnings that “continually punting is how we eventually end up getting rugged,” it erodes the very fabric of societal trust. Corporate accountability is the only antidote to a culture that views user funds as collateral damage for rapid expansion!

As per this press release on the FTC’s website, Illusory Systems was forced to pay a restitution to the victims: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/12/ftc-will-require-illusory-systems-return-money-stolen-hackers-implement-information-security-program