Truebit Drained: $26.5M ETH Vanishes in Smart-Contract Heist

Truebit Drained: $26.5M ETH Vanishes in Smart-Contract Heist

> At a Glance

> – A pricing glitch in Truebit’s smart contract let an attacker mint unlimited TRU tokens.

> – Over 8,500 ETH ($26.5 million) was siphoned within hours.

> – TRU’s price crashed ≈100%, leaving the token virtually worthless.

> – Why it matters: DeFi users face another stark reminder that code flaws can vaporize liquidity in minutes.

Truebit Protocol joined the growing list of hacked DeFi projects after an exploiter manipulated its bonding-curve pricing logic to drain the treasury.

How the Attack Unfolded

Blockchain-security firm PeckshieldAlert first flagged the breach on X. On-chain records show the attacker repeatedly minted TRU at zero cost, then dumped the tokens back into the protocol’s own bonding curve. The rapid buy-sell loop bled out more than 8,500 ETH-now worth roughly $26.5 million-into two fresh addresses:

  • 0x2735...cE850a
  • 0xD12f...031a6

Token Collateral Damage

The flood of fake sell pressure obliterated TRU’s market price within hours. Most exchanges now price the token near $0, representing a ≈100% drawdown from pre-attack levels.

Same Actor Behind Sparkle Incident

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PeckShield links this exploit to the same wallet that hit Sparkle two weeks earlier, where a similar contract flaw yielded about 5 ETH. The earlier proceeds were run through Tornado Cash to obscure the trail.

Project Response

Truebit’s team has:

  • Acknowledged the breach
  • Urged users to avoid interacting with the affected contract
  • Begun working with law-enforcement
  • Promised further updates once a full post-mortem is ready

Key Takeaways

  • A single pricing-bug let an attacker mint unlimited TRU and drain $26.5 million in ETH.
  • TRU holders saw value evaporate in under a day.
  • The same wallet is tied to at least one prior small-scale exploit.
  • Truebit has yet to publish technical details or recovery steps.

The incident underscores how quickly coding oversights can translate into eight-figure losses for decentralized protocols.

Author

  • My name is Olivia M. Hartwell, and I cover the world of politics and government here in Los Angeles.

    Olivia M. Hartwell covers housing, development, and neighborhood change for News of Los Angeles, focusing on who benefits from growth and who gets pushed out. A UCLA graduate, she’s known for data-driven investigations that follow money, zoning, and accountability across LA communities.

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