NewsBTC
No Result
View All Result
  • Cryptocurrency News
    • Bitcoin News (BTC)
    • Ethereum News (ETH)
    • Ripple News (XRP)
    • Shiba Inu News (SHIB)
    • Cardano News (ADA)
    • Dogecoin News (DOGE)
    • Solana News (SOL)
    • Litecoin News (LTC)
    • Avalanche News (AVAX)
    • Polygon News (MATIC)
  • Crypto Prices
    • Binance Coin (BNB) Price
    • Bitcoin (BTC) Price
    • Cardano (ADA) Price
    • Chainlink (LINK) Price
    • Dogecoin (DOGE) Price
    • Ethereum (ETH) Price
    • Litecoin (LTC) Price
    • Polkadot (DOT) Price
  • Crypto Resources & Directory
  • All Crypto
  • Play GamesTry
  • CasinosTry
Breaking News: Coinbase Confirms DOJ Investigation Following Major Security Incident
  • Cryptocurrency News
    • Bitcoin News (BTC)
    • Ethereum News (ETH)
    • Ripple News (XRP)
    • Shiba Inu News (SHIB)
    • Cardano News (ADA)
    • Dogecoin News (DOGE)
    • Solana News (SOL)
    • Litecoin News (LTC)
    • Avalanche News (AVAX)
    • Polygon News (MATIC)
  • Crypto Prices
    • Binance Coin (BNB) Price
    • Bitcoin (BTC) Price
    • Cardano (ADA) Price
    • Chainlink (LINK) Price
    • Dogecoin (DOGE) Price
    • Ethereum (ETH) Price
    • Litecoin (LTC) Price
    • Polkadot (DOT) Price
  • Crypto Resources & Directory
  • All Crypto
  • Play GamesTry
  • CasinosTry
Bitcoin News
No Result
View All Result
Breaking News: Coinbase Confirms DOJ Investigation Following Major Security Incident

Decentralized Exchange Bancor Falls Victim to $24 Million Security Breach

Nick Chong
Nick Chong
6 years ago
3 mins read

Reason to trust

Strict editorial policy that focuses on accuracy, relevance, and impartiality
Created by industry experts and meticulously reviewed
The highest standards in reporting and publishing
How Our News is Made

Strict editorial policy that focuses on accuracy, relevance, and impartiality

Ad discliamer

Morbi pretium leo et nisl aliquam mollis. Quisque arcu lorem, ultricies quis pellentesque nec, ullamcorper eu odio.

A popular decentralized exchange platform, Bancor, recently took to Twitter to announce that the platform fell victim to a security breach, giving further details about the apparent hack.

Bancor Sees $24 Million In Cryptos Stolen

On July 9th at 8 AM (UTC), Bancor released a Tweet noting that its web service would be closed down for maintenance. This announcement, which came out of nowhere, got some users worried, as they wondered what had occurred.

A few hours later, another Tweet was issued bringing clarity to the situation, writing:

“This morning (CEST) Bancor experienced a security breach. No user wallets were compromised. 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.”

According to details released in an update, a wallet used to update smart contracts was compromised by an unnamed attacker. The hacker or group of hackers were able to withdraw 24,984 ETH, along with two ERC-20 tokens, which are NXPS and the in-house BNT.

The total amount of funds stolen amounted to $24 million, but the update stressed that no user wallets were compromised.

Here is the latest update on the recent security breach: pic.twitter.com/JroypFvBri

— Bancor (@Bancor) July 9, 2018

Acting quickly, the team at the exchange utilized code in the BNT smart contract that allowed for them to freeze the stolen tokens. The update noted:

“Once the theft was identified, we were able to freeze the stolen BNT, limiting the damage to the Bancor ecosystem from the theft.”

Adding that this function was only meant to be used in “an extreme situation,” like the one seen just recently. The exchange was unable to take control of the ETH or NXPS tokens but the update made it clear that the platform is working with “dozens of cryptocurrency exchanges” to trace the stolen funds, and possibly identify the hacker(s).

Bancor has become one of the most prominent decentralized exchange (DEX) platforms in the industry, raising $153 million in an ICO last year. The exchange has consistently posted volume figures that mirror and even surpass other premier DEX platforms, allowing for its users to participate in a decentralized trading environment.

However, this seemingly devastating hack brings Bancor’s security protocols and systems into question. Emin Gun Sirer, a professor at Cornell University and co-director of the IC3 cryptocurrency initiative, criticized the operations security (op-sec) methods which Bancor utilized in their smart contract, writing:

“This looks like a straightforward case of bad opsec at Bancor, instead of a more worrisome flaw in their core contract.”

Sirer posted another Tweet in the same thread that pointed out that there were some aspects of central control written into the smart contract.

Of course, the Bancor contract should not have been centrally controllable to this degree. And the core contract should probably have had some rate limits built into it to avoid sudden drains like this.

— Emin Gün Sirer🔺 (@el33th4xor) July 9, 2018

Although it was mostly well-received that Bancor was able to mitigate damage by using a feature on its smart contract, others reminisced back to the DAO situation with Ethereum. Although the Ethereum/Ethereum Classic situation was under vastly different conditions, users still brought up the question, “Should a decentralized platform have emergency functions written in to mitigate the risk of hack attempts?”

A Bancor wallet got hacked and that wallet has the ability to steal coins out of their own smart contracts. 🤦‍♂️

An exchange is not decentralized if it can lose customer funds OR if it can freeze customer funds. Bancor can do BOTH. It's a false sense of decentralization. https://t.co/22UYygIhEF

— Charlie Lee Ⓜ️🕸️ (@SatoshiLite) July 10, 2018

Charlie Lee went on Twitter to express his disbelief about the “false sense of decentralization” Bancor was pushing, as a true DEX should not be allowed to freeze user funds. The platform implied that it only had the best intentions, but the debate around this pressing topic will continue, especially as this situation unfolds further.

As of the time of press, BNT has fallen by 14% on the day, underperforming Bitcoin by 13%. But since its fall on the announcement of the hack, BNT has found a home at ~$2.65, holding at that level for the time being.

 

Image from Shutterstock
Tweet123Share196ShareSend
Nick Chong
Nick Chong

Nick Chong

I am a writer who has been following Bitcoin for years now. My insights and interviews have been featured in leading publications in the industry such as LongHash and Decrypt. I own a small amount of Bitcoin.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Disclaimer: The information found on NewsBTC is for educational purposes only. It does not represent the opinions of NewsBTC on whether to buy, sell or hold any investments and naturally investing carries risks. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use information provided on this website entirely at your own risk.

Related News

DOGE

DOGE Bulls Hold The Line At $0.15 — Is The Rally Still Alive?

Dogecoin (DOGE) prices have crashed by over 4% in the past month indicating a slightly dominant bearish influence in recent...

Semilore Faleti 6 hours ago
Top crypto analist: het ideale Dogecoin koopmoment voor kans op 200% rally

Top crypto analist: het ideale Dogecoin koopmoment voor kans op 200% rally

Een top crypto analist heeft op Tradingview zijn licht laten schijnen op de Dogecoin koers. Volgens SwallowAcademy kunnen we binnenkort...

Lars Diederiksen 8 hours ago
Ethereum Wyckoff Accumulation Hints At Explosive Q3 – $4K Level In Sight

Ethereum Wyckoff Accumulation Hints At Explosive Q3 – $4K Level In Sight

Ethereum is trading just above the $2,500 mark following days of volatility, choppy price action, and uncertainty across crypto markets....

Sebastian Villafuerte 7 hours ago
Load More

Reason to trust

Strict editorial policy that focuses on accuracy, relevance, and impartiality
Created by industry experts and meticulously reviewed
The highest standards in reporting and publishing
How Our News is Made

Strict editorial policy that focuses on accuracy, relevance, and impartiality

Ad discliamer

Morbi pretium leo et nisl aliquam mollis. Quisque arcu lorem, ultricies quis pellentesque nec, ullamcorper eu odio.

Related News

Bitcoin

Bitcoin Must Hold $106,000 And $98,000 To Avoid Breakdown

Scott Matherson 1 hour ago
Bitcoin

Bitcoin’s True Value Is Higher Than $110,000, Expert Warns

Christian Encila 2 hours ago
Bitcoin

Bitcoin Consolidation Continues: 2 Key Support Levels To Watch

Semilore Faleti 4 hours ago

Premium Sponsors

Press Releases

  • Cryptocurrency is the best way to get rich quickly, easily...

    13 hours ago
  • XRP Cryptocurrency × Dogecoin Mining: HASHJ launches...

    20 hours ago
  • Koja kriptovaluta ima veći potencijal za stvaranje milijunaša XRP ili Shiba Inu

    Koja kriptovaluta ima veći potencijal za stvaranje...

    24 hours ago
  • 3 altcoina koje vrijedi pratiti u prvom tjednu srpnja 2025

    1 day ago
  • XRP Bulls Are Soaring — FINDMINING Rides the Wave to...

    1 day ago

Newsletter

Be the first to get the latest important crypto news & events to your inbox.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

About Us

NewsBTC is a cryptocurrency news service that covers bitcoin news today, technical analysis & forecasts for bitcoin price and other altcoins. Here at NewsBTC, we are dedicated to enlightening everyone about bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

We cover BTC news related to bitcoin exchanges, bitcoin mining and price forecasts for various cryptocurrencies.

Disclaimer: The information found on NewsBTC is for educational purposes only. It does not represent the opinions of NewsBTC on whether to buy, sell or hold any investments and naturally investing carries risks. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use information provided on this website entirely at your own risk.

Company

  • About Us
  • Advertising
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Center

Social

© 2025 NewsBTC. All Rights Reserved.

  • Cryptocurrency News
    • Bitcoin News (BTC)
    • Ethereum News (ETH)
    • Ripple News (XRP)
    • Shiba Inu News (SHIB)
    • Cardano News (ADA)
    • Dogecoin News (DOGE)
    • Solana News (SOL)
    • Litecoin News (LTC)
    • Avalanche News (AVAX)
    • Polygon News (MATIC)
  • Crypto Prices
    • Binance Coin (BNB) Price
    • Bitcoin (BTC) Price
    • Cardano (ADA) Price
    • Chainlink (LINK) Price
    • Dogecoin (DOGE) Price
    • Ethereum (ETH) Price
    • Litecoin (LTC) Price
    • Polkadot (DOT) Price
  • Crypto Resources & Directory
  • All Crypto
  • Play Games
  • Casinos
Advertise

© 2025 NewsBTC. All Rights Reserved.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy Center or Cookie Policy.