Qubic halted its network after an attacker drained approximately 1,400 wallets that used weak seed phrases. The network's validators began preparing to vote on a recovery plan following the incident.
According to Qubic, 87.1% of the stolen funds remained on the blockchain at the time of the announcement. The remaining portion of stolen assets had been frozen at crypto exchange MEXC.
The attack targeted wallets secured with weak seed phrases, which are the randomized strings of words users generate to back up and recover their cryptocurrency holdings. Weak seeds make wallets vulnerable to brute force attacks, where hackers systematically try different combinations until gaining access.
Qubic's response involved freezing the chain to prevent further unauthorized transactions while the community determined next steps. Network validators took on the responsibility of evaluating and voting on recovery options to address the losses.
The incident highlights ongoing security challenges in cryptocurrency networks, particularly around user seed phrase management and wallet security practices. While Qubic retained control over most stolen funds through its on-chain presence, the involvement of MEXC in freezing additional assets showed coordination between the network and exchanges in responding to the attack.
The recovery plan vote represented an attempt to restore user funds and prevent similar attacks in the future. Qubic did not provide specific details about the total value of stolen assets or timelines for the voting process and recovery implementation.