ChainBleedv0.1 · open intel
← back to feed·PRIVATE-KEY2021-08-21 · 4y ago
Incident · SLOWMIST

Sentinel

Affected by the HitBTC event
Estimated loss
$40.00M
VERDICT —OUT OF SCOPE
Root cause is private-key / signer compromise — the on-chain contract behaved exactly as written. No pre-deployment source audit or bytecode review reaches the key-custody perimeter; this is operational-security territory (HSM/MPC hygiene, key rotation, hot-wallet isolation). Bytecode would show nothing wrong.
▰ METHOD
PRIVATE KEY
PRIVATE-KEY
Root cause

Root-cause analysis not yet published. The incident description below contains all currently available signal — review the attack transaction directly for definitive forensics.

Forensic narrative

Sentinel, a Cosmos ecological dVPN project, stated on Twitter that the $40 million DVPN tokens were stolen due to the leak of the mnemonic phrase on the HitBTC exchange. Sentinel stated that the user's own DVPN was safe, and HitBTC had the problem. They reported the hacking incident to Sentinel one hour after the incident. So Sentinel hopes that HitBTC will take action to return DVPN to users. HitBTC responded that Sentinel was trying to shirk responsibility for its technical defects and deceive everyone. HitBTC believes that Sentinel’s technology has vulnerabilities that can easily cause user mnemonics to be publicly disclosed. Such vulnerabilities are common in the Sentinel network, and the blockchain and software have not been thoroughly tested, and the company has not invested enough Time and resources to protect users. Therefore, HitBTC recommended that Sentinel fix the security vulnerabilities in the software, conduct more tests, and restart the current centralized system. Attack method (per SlowMist): Affected by the HitBTC event. Reported loss: $ 40,000,000.

Sourced from
slowmist
Technical record
chain
protocol
Sentinel
bug_class
private-key
date_occurred
2021-08-21
loss_usd
$40,000,000
source_id
sm:sentinel::2021-08-21
Related — same bug class· private-key
2026-04-30
1mo ago
MULTI
Wasabi Perps
Admin Key Compromised
private-key
$5.50M
OUT OF SCOPE
2026-04-30
1mo ago
ETH
Wasabi Protocol
Private Key Leakage
private-key
$5.70M
OUT OF SCOPE
2026-04-29
1mo ago
Syndicate Labs
Private Key Leakage
private-key
$380.0K
OUT OF SCOPE
2026-04-21
1mo ago
SUI
Volo Vault
Admin Key Compromised
private-key
$3.50M
OUT OF SCOPE
2026-04-21
1mo ago
SUI
Volo Vaults
Private Key Leakage
private-key
$3.50M
OUT OF SCOPE
2026-04-16
1mo ago
MULTI
Grinex
Hot wallet hack
private-key
$15.00M
OUT OF SCOPE
ChainBleed — live web3 threat intelligence