Bitcoiner socially engineered out of $91 million
A bitcoin holder reportedly fell for a social engineering attack after receiving communications from scammers posing as customer support for a crypto exchange and hardware wallet provider, according to crypto sleuth zachxbt. The thieves stole 783 BTC (~$91 million), which they then transferred through the Wasabi mixer to complicate tracing.
BtcTurk apparently hacked again, for $49 million
The Turkish cryptocurrency exchange BtcTurk has apparently been hacked again, as various blockchain security firms observed suspicious withdrawals estimated at around $49 million. BtcTurk later acknowledged it had experienced "unusual activity" in its hot wallets, and had suspended deposits and withdrawals. They did not provide any more details about the scale of the attack.
This is the second BtcTurk exploit, following an approximately $55 million theft in June 2024.
Odin.fun bitcoin memecoin launchpad exploited for more than $7 million
Odin.fun, a bitcoin-based memecoin launchpad sort of like the popular pump.fun, was exploited for 58.2 BTC (~$7 million). The attacker had apparently manipulated the price of various tokens, then withdrew bitcoin based on the inflated prices.
A team member suggested they were unsure of the total amount stolen, "but as of right now, our company treasury isn't big enough to cover the losses".
Monero faces 51% attack
Monero, a privacy-focused blockchain network, has been undergoing an attempted 51% attack — an existential threat to any blockchain. In the case of a successful 51% attack, where a single entity becomes responsible for 51% or more of a blockchain's mining power, the controlling entity could reorganize blocks, attempt to double-spend, or censor transactions.
A company called Qubic has been waging the 51% attack by offering economic rewards for miners who join the Qubic mining pool. They claim to be "stress testing" Monero, though many in the Monero community have condemned Qubic for what they see as a malicious attack on the network or a marketing stunt.
Though Qubic has claimed to have achieved 51% of the Monero hashrate, these claims have been disputed. However, they do appear to be very close if not there already, and there have been multiple chain reorganizations — including a 6-block reorganization — suggesting that Qubic has established significant control over Monero mining.