Private Key Leak Leads to $250K Exploit of Hacken Bridge and Token Decline
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On June 21, a private key leak led to a $250,000 exploit on Hacken Bridge, causing its native token, the HAI token, to collapse 99% in hours.
Blame Falls on Human Error, Not a System Hack
The breach occurred during architectural changes to the Hacken Bridge, which were intended to mitigate risks like this one.
However, a critical human mistake exposed a private key tied to a wallet with minting privileges on Ethereum and BNB Chain.
https://twitter.com/hackenclub/status/1936487412101742852
A malicious actor seized the opportunity to mint large amounts of the platform’s HAI token, then sold them on decentralized exchanges, triggering panic and a sharp price crash.
The HAI token fell by 99%, plummeting from $0.015 to just $0.000056 within hours. It has since recovered slightly and is currently trading around $0.00036.
Hacken Bridge has since taken control of the situation. The compromised minting account has been revoked from the HAI token contract.
The deployer wallet (with admin privileges) was not affected, which allowed the team to act quickly and prevent further abuse.
Despite these efforts, the attacker still managed to walk away with an estimated $250,000 worth of tokens.
Hacken Bridge CEO Dyma Budorin confirmed the breach. In his view, the real damage wasn’t financial, it was reputational. He clarified that the hack did not impact Hacken’s core security business.
https://twitter.com/buda_kyiv/status/1936833869623292106
Nonetheless, the blow to trust is something no blockchain project takes lightly. He also added that not all tokens on Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain—especially those purchased after the attack—will be eligible for support under upcoming tokenomics.
According to Hacken Bridge, the goal has always been to evolve the HAI token into a security token, one that holds real-world equity value but with crypto-level flexibility.
The company’s long-term vision is to merge HAI token utility with actual shareholder rights, turning HAI into a regulated financial tool.
Crypto Sector Continues to Suffer More Losses
The recent Hacken Bridge breach, while officially attributed to human error, highlights a fundamental vulnerability in the cryptocurrency sector. This incident demonstrates how a single mistake can lead to catastrophic losses (99% token crash), eroding the delicate trust that underpins the entire industry.
June has proven particularly brutal for cryptocurrency security.
In Iran, the central bank introduced strict operating hours for domestic crypto exchanges. The move came after Nobitex, the country’s largest exchange, suffered a record-breaking security exploit. Cybercriminals had looted over $90 million in digital assets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Dogecoin, and Solana, from the exchange, in what is now regarded as the largest crypto hack in Iran’s history.
A few days earlier, researchers from SlowMist revealed that a trader lost $6.9 million after buying what appeared to be a brand-new cold wallet from Douyin, China’s version of TikTok.
It was advertised as factory-sealed and sold at a discount. But the wallet came preloaded with a compromised private key. Hours after setup, the funds vanished.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., the Department of Justice announced that five individuals admitted to laundering nearly $37 million from American victims.
https://twitter.com/DOJCrimDiv/status/1932220122745143645
These incidents, scattered across the globe, paint a worrying picture. Private key leaks, fake hardware, large-scale laundering schemes—the methods may differ, but the result is the same: more money lost, more trust eroded.
