The service is now operational after a prolonged shutdown
Bittensor was compelled to halt its network operations on July 3 after experiencing a series of wallet breaches that resulted in the theft of at least $8 million in cryptocurrency assets.
Ala Shaabana, co-founder of Bittensor, announced the network shutdown in a July 3 post on X, stating that the attack had been contained and the network had been put into safe mode, which allows block production but prohibits transactions. Shaabana mentioned that the investigation was ongoing and all potential causes were being considered.
By way of an update, we have contained the attack and put the chain into safe mode (blocks producing but no transactions are permitted).
We’re still mid investigation and are considering all possibilities. Stay tuned.
— Ala (@shibshib89) July 3, 2024
Cybersecurity issues such as hacks and exploits are major obstacles to the widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies. Over the past 13 years, the industry has seen nearly $19 billion stolen through 785 reported hacks. The recent theft was first reported by the pseudonymous onchain investigator ZachXBT in a July 3 Telegram message, identifying that an unknown address, “5FbW,” was used to steal 32,000 Bittensor (TAO) tokens worth around $8 million.
This incident follows another significant theft on June 1, where a different wallet was drained of $11.2 million in TAO tokens, as reported by ZachXBT. Historically, smart contract vulnerabilities were the primary cause of stolen funds, but in recent times, private key leaks have become more prevalent.
According to Merkle Science’s “2024 Crypto HackHub Report,” over 55% of the digital assets hacked in 2023 were due to private key leaks. In contrast, losses from smart contract vulnerabilities decreased dramatically, with only $179 million stolen in 2023, a significant drop from $2.6 billion in 2022.
