$13.5 Million in Crypto Stolen From Token Platform Bancor

Bancor is said to have suffered "a security breach" this morning.

AccessTimeIconJul 9, 2018 at 7:50 p.m. UTC
Updated Aug 7, 2021 at 1:27 a.m. UTC

Presented By Icon

Election 2024 coverage presented by

Stand with crypto

Token creation platform Bancor has gone offline following a "security breach" that took place Monday morning that saw the platform lose millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency.

Bancor posted on Twitter that it took its platform offline following the security incident, stating that "no user wallets were compromised."

  • Bitcoin Mining in the U.S. Will Become 'a Lot More Decentralized': Core Scientific CEO
    13:18
    Bitcoin Mining in the U.S. Will Become 'a Lot More Decentralized': Core Scientific CEO
  • Binance to Discontinue Its Nigerian Naira Services After Government Scrutiny
    05:10
    Binance to Discontinue Its Nigerian Naira Services After Government Scrutiny
  • The first video of the year 2024
    04:07
    The first video of the year 2024
  • The last regression video of the year 3.67.0
    40:07
    The last regression video of the year 3.67.0
  • "To complete the investigation, we have moved to maintenance and will be releasing a more detailed report shortly. We look forward to being back online as soon as possible." A spokesperson for Bancor confirmed the incident when reached by email.

    Nate Hindman, Bancor's head of communications, told CoinDesk that while the team had been able to block the transfer of an estimated 2.5 million BNT tokens – worth an additional $10 million – it wasn't able to do so for approximately 25,000 ETH – worth about $12.5 million – as well as almost 230 million NPXS tokens (worth roughly $1 million total).

    All told, the company lost roughly $13.5 million in the hack, according to a follow-up statement.

    "We were able to freeze the stolen BNT, limiting the damage to the Bancor ecosystem from the theft. The ability to freeze tokens was built into the Bancor Protocol to be used in an extreme situation to recover from a security breach, allowing Bancor to effectively stop the thief from running away with the stolen tokens," he explained, adding:

    "It is not possible to freeze the ETH or any other stolen tokens. However, we are now working with dozens of cryptocurrency exchanges to trace the stolen funds and make it more difficult for the thief to liquidate them."

    The developments come more than a year after Bancor raised $153 million in an initial coin offering (ICO), representing the largest token sale of its kind at the time (a figure that was ultimately eclipsed by Telegram and, later, EOS). In addition to serving as a decentralized exchange, Bancor also allows for the creation of new cryptographic tokens.s moved out from Bancor addresses.

    According to Hindman, Bancor has "identified the cause of the breach and removed the vulnerability."

    "We expect Bancor to go back online in the next 24 hours. We will continue to post updates as and when appropriate on our Telegram channel and on Twitter," he explained.

    The incident appears to have impacted the price of Bancor's BNT token. According to CoinMarketCap, the token's price is down roughly 14 percent during the past day and is currently trading at around $2.73.

    Image via Shutterstock

    This article has been updated with new information and statements from Bancor. 

    Disclosure

    Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information have been updated.

    CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk has adopted a set of principles aimed at ensuring the integrity, editorial independence and freedom from bias of its publications. CoinDesk is part of the Bullish group, which owns and invests in digital asset businesses and digital assets. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive Bullish group equity-based compensation. Bullish was incubated by technology investor Block.one.


    Learn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk's longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.