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Qubic halts network after weak seeds expose 1,404 wallets

Qubic paused its network after a weak seed generator exposed 1,404 wallets; most stolen tokens remain frozen while validators weigh recovery options.

BitCurrent Newsroom2 min read

Qubic halts network after weak seeds expose 1,404 wallets

Qubic’s validators can halt its layer-1 network; on Oct. 18, they paused it after an attacker drained 1,404 wallets using weakly generated seeds. Cointelegraph’s report, citing Qubic, said the theft involved about $1.4 million in QU.

  • 1,404 wallets drained
  • 2.94 trillion QU stolen
  • 87.1% of the funds remained on Qubic’s network

How did the attacker access the wallets?

The flaw was in seed generation, not Qubic’s core network code. Qubic said affected seeds were generated by wallets used in browsers on iPhones and iPads, Safari on Macs through Oct. 18, 2026, and its iOS app before July 2025.

Qubic’s web wallet version 4.26.4 replaced JavaScript’s Math.random() with the cryptographically secure crypto.getRandomValues() for seed generation, according to Cointelegraph. The change addresses the generator that created the weak seeds.

What happened to the stolen QU?

Validators stopped the network at tick 85,371,949, freezing most of the stolen tokens on-chain. Qubic said the other 12.9% was sent to MEXC, which froze the receiving account within about an hour.

The Tech Report’s account put the drain window at 23:42 UTC on Oct. 17 to 01:26 UTC on Oct. 18. It also reported that Qubic secured additional funds exposed to the same weakness before they could be taken.

When will Qubic restart the network?

Qubic had not announced a restart date. The project said its core team was identifying affected wallets and preparing recovery options for a vote by network Computors, according to Cointelegraph.

That leaves two questions open: how affected users may be reimbursed, and what happens to the funds frozen on-chain. Qubic said it would publish a full technical report after a recovery plan is settled.

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