On January 8, the Ethereum verification protocol Truebit was attacked, resulting in hackers extracting 8,535 ETH ($26.4 million). This was reported by analysts at Lookonchain.
It appears Truebit(@Truebitprotocol) has been exploited, with 8,535 $ETH ($26.44M) stolen. 🚨https://t.co/jvj8lVkfTM pic.twitter.com/22Q58vdzvN
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) January 8, 2026
The project team confirmed the breach, noting that only one smart contract was affected. The developers have yet to disclose the causes of the incident and the amount of damage, as the investigation is ongoing.
“We are in contact with law enforcement and are taking all available measures to address the situation,” noted Truebit.
Independent researcher Weilin (William) Li suggested that the attackers exploited a vulnerability in the token minting function with an incorrectly set price in an outdated contract deployed about five years ago.
Another 26M hack. @Truebitprtocol
I haven’t decompiled the vulnerable code yet, but the root cause appears to be a mispriced minting function of its purchase contract that allows anyone to purchase TRU token at a very low price.
The first attacker (26M profit):… pic.twitter.com/qmoDB54I0w
— Weilin (William) Li (@hklst4r) January 8, 2026
The attackers managed to purchase native TRU coins at an artificially low rate.
The expert believes that two independent groups were involved in the hack: the first gained a profit of $26 million, while the second made around $250,000.
The TRU token has nearly lost its value — within 24 hours, its price plummeted by approximately 100%. At the time of writing, the coin is trading at around $0.00007212.
In late December, the browser extension Trust Wallet was subjected to a hack amounting to $8.5 million. The project team stated that the breach affected 2,520 addresses.
Almost simultaneously, the DeFi protocol Unleash Protocol fell victim to cybercriminals, with attackers withdrawing around $3.9 million.
By the end of 2025, the damage from hacks reached $3.4 billion, with the majority of this sum attributed to hackers from North Korea.