Blockchain startup Bittensor has temporarily halted its network due to a private key leak, causing the network’s token to drop by 16%.
Bittensor, a decentralized machine learning protocol, has apparently fallen victim to a hacker attack, targeting multiple wallets in the network, with losses estimated at $8 million.
In a Telegram post on Jul. 2, blockchain sleuth ZachXBT revealed in a Telegram post that hackers withdrew over 30,000 Bittensor TAO tokens, valued at approximately $8 million at the time. Bittensor confirmed the attack in a Discord channel, prompting a temporary network halt.
pic.twitter.com/irfTpclSK8
— Bittensor (@bittensorcom) July 3, 2024
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As of press time, the root cause of the hack remains unclear, though ZachXBT suggested it might have resulted from “private key leakage.” Following the news, the TAO token dropped nearly 16% to $227 before rebounding to $238, according to CoinMarketCap data.
Founded in 2019 by AI researchers Ala Shaabana and Jacob Steeves, Bittensor initially operated as a Polkadot parachain but pivoted to its own layer-1 chain in March 2023. Reports indicate Polychain Capital backed Bittensor in 2019 and held around $200 million in its tokens as of April.
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