Qubic's validators halted the network after an attacker drained about 2.94 trillion QU from 1,404 wallets, worth roughly $1.3 million. The project blames wallet seeds generated with insufficient randomness, and the fate of the stolen funds now rests with its validator quorum.
Qubic's validators halted the network after an attacker drained about 2.94 trillion QU from 1,404 wallets, the project said on Oct. 18. The tokens were worth roughly $1.3 million at late Sunday morning prices.
Qubic said the theft occurred between 7:42 p.m. and 9:26 p.m. ET on Oct. 17. Its validators, called Computors, then coordinated a halt at tick 85,371,949, which stopped all transaction processing. The halt also prevents other holders from transferring funds while the incident is resolved.
Most of the stolen tokens remain stuck
Qubic said 87.1% of the drained funds remained on the network, immobilized by the halt. The remaining 12.9% went to MEXC, whose team froze the receiving account within about an hour, according to Qubic.
The Defiant valued the reported stolen tokens at about $1.26 million using CoinGecko's price at 11:03 a.m. ET on Oct. 18. CoinGecko put QUBIC's circulating market capitalization at $61.8 million at that time. Separately, Bitcoin.com reported that Qubic's native currency was down more than 10% at 10 a.m. Eastern time on Sunday.
Weak seed generation, not the protocol
Qubic attributed the theft to wallet seeds generated with insufficient randomness, which let the attacker access affected wallets. According to the project: "The issue was in seed generation, not in the Qubic protocol itself."
Its warning covers seeds created in any browser on an iPhone or iPad before Oct. 18, 2026, in Safari on a Mac before that date, or in the Qubic iOS app before July 2025. The project said it corrected seed generation in version 4.26.4.
Recovery depends on the validators
Qubic advised affected holders to file a report with police or cybercrime authorities, including the wallet ID, amount lost and transaction link from its explorer. It said formal reports help exchanges keep funds frozen. The project also warned that its team would never initiate a private message, ask for a seed or offer paid recovery services.
Qubic said any resolution rests with the Computor quorum. Its core team was identifying affected addresses and preparing options for the validators, with a community poll open on Discord.
Sources: The Defiant, Bitcoin News
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