{"id":9197,"date":"2026-06-27T01:51:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T22:51:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/handoli.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/27\/mystery-deepens-over-cardano-wallets-18-5m-white-hat-hacker\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T01:51:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T22:51:33","slug":"mystery-deepens-over-cardano-wallets-18-5m-white-hat-hacker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/handoli.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/27\/mystery-deepens-over-cardano-wallets-18-5m-white-hat-hacker\/","title":{"rendered":"Mystery deepens over Cardano wallet\u2019s $18.5M white hat hacker"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has claimed that the identity of the presumably white hat hacker who took $18.5 million worth of ADA from exposed Cardano wallet users is unknown.<\/p>\n

In an X talk yesterday called The Bingo Hall, Hoskinson claimed<\/a> that he was informed by \u201cJer\u201d of what went down in a meeting between the Cardano governance firm Intersect and the developers of SecondFi, Emurgo.<\/p>\n

A clipped snippet of the talk shows Hoskinson claiming that \u201cA member of the Emurgo team said the identity of the white hat hacker is not known to Emurgo.\u201d He shortly added, \u201cor at least [Emurgo] said it is not affiliated with Emurgo.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s probably a fair representation of the statement,\u201d Hoskinson said, before noting that it was a secondhand recollection from the meeting by Jer.<\/p>\n

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For everyone’s sake I hope this is nothing more than miscommunication. <\/p>\n

I do think that Emurgo should address this statement ASAP though. https:\/\/t.co\/3D8eoDgcCO<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Alex Dochioiu (@AlexDochioiu) June 25, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Read more: Cardano wallets drained of $2.4M after self-custody exploit<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

He said, \u201cI don\u2019t particularly care if it\u2019s Joe Schmo, Emurgo, or a third-party, doesn\u2019t matter to me,\u201d noting that his only concern is how they are going to move the funds and return them to affected users.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Days before this, X users had already begun to speculate<\/a> whether or not Emurgo knew who the white hat hacker was.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, X users are doubting whether Emurgo knew the white hat hacker, with some calling<\/a> for a police investigation into the firm. Others, however, are hoping Hoskinson\u2019s c<\/a>l<\/a>aims<\/a> are just a \u201cmiscommunication.\u201d<\/p>\n

SecondFi claims it triggered emergency measures<\/h2>\n

SecondFi, one of the largest Cardano wallet generators, was exploited earlier this week, and 16 million ADA ($2.4 million) was reported stolen from user wallets.<\/p>\n

However, another 129 million ADA ($18.5 million) was also taken, but SecondFi later claimed that it was the result of an emergency measure it had deployed to secure the funds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It said<\/a>, \u201cTo prevent total loss during the active exploit, emergency rescue measures were triggered to secure the available ~129m ADA and continues to be routed to an independent, qualified third-party custodian, where they are held securely for the benefit of the affected wallet addresses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAn external accounting firm has been engaged for a special audit to independently verify those holdings,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

Intersect\u2019s latest post on the exploit yesterday demanded<\/a> \u201ca transparent account of how the issue arose, of the emergency measures taken to protect user assets, including the movement of at-risk funds to custody, and of how those assets, which include CNTs and NFTs as well as ada, will be safeguarded and returned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Intersect stresses Cardano blockchain isn\u2019t broken<\/h2>\n

Intersect stressed that the exploit has nothing to do with the Cardano blockchain itself. <\/p>\n

However, it noted that the implications of the exploit may impact the flow of ADA across the ecosystem.<\/p>\n

SecondFi\u2019s latest statement claims<\/a> it took a final balance snapshot today and estimates thait will return lost user assetsed in two weeks\u2019 time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"\ud83d\udee1\" Recovery Process Update<\/p>\n

Our team remains focused on returning assets to affected users, and we are making strong progress on a structured recovery and verification process.<\/p>\n

Two important updates today:<\/p>\n

1. The final balance snapshot has been taken today, Friday 26 June 2026.\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 SecondFi (@secondfiapp) June 26, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Read more:\u00a0Hoskinson wants to save Cardano\u2019s rep by leaving X for Discord safespace<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t guaranteed, and the firm noted that it is still trying to reach a \u201cworking solution\u201d before it proceeds to test and review the asset return process.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It still advises users not to move to new wallets and warns, \u201cIndependent actions taken outside of official guidance create additional risks, and may significantly complicate the asset claims process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Protos has reached out to Emurgo for comment and will update this piece should we hear anything back.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Got a tip? Send us an email securely via\u00a0<\/em>Protos Leaks<\/em><\/a>. For more informed news and investigations, follow us on\u00a0X<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>Bluesky<\/em><\/a>, and\u00a0<\/em>Google News<\/em><\/a>, or subscribe to our\u00a0<\/em>YouTube<\/em><\/a>\u00a0channel.<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Mystery deepens over Cardano wallet\u2019s $18.5M white hat hacker<\/a> appeared first on Protos<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has claimed that the identity of the presumably white hat hacker who took $18.5 million worth of ADA from exposed Cardano wallet users is unknown. In an X talk yesterday called The Bingo Hall, Hoskinson claimed that he was informed by \u201cJer\u201d of what went down in a meeting between the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9198,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[147],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-invest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/handoli.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/handoli.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/handoli.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handoli.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handoli.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/handoli.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handoli.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/handoli.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handoli.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handoli.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}