The Truebit Protocol hack drained 8,535 ETH, erased $26M, and sent the TRU token from $0.16 to near zero in hours.
The crypto market faced a major shock today as the Truebit Protocol suffered a hack.
This hack wiped out millions in assets and sent the platform’s native token to zero. Investors watched in disbelief as one of Ethereum’s infrastructure projects suffered a catastrophic failure.
In all, this incident marks one of the biggest security failures of 2026 so far.
Details of the Truebit Protocol Hack
The crypto community was first alerted by early reports from security firm Cyvers, when suspicious on-chain activity first appeared.
A single wallet address suddenly received 8,535 ETH tokens. At current market rates, this haul is worth roughly $26 million. The platform later confirmed that a malicious actor targeted a specific smart contract address.
Today, we became aware of a security incident involving one or more malicious actors. The affected smart contract is 0x764C64b2A09b09Acb100B80d8c505Aa6a0302EF2 and we strongly advise the public not to interact with this contract until further notice. We are in contact with law…
— Truebit (@Truebitprotocol) January 8, 2026
The attacker did not just take the money and run. They used a builder bribe to speed up their transactions. This made sure that their trades went through before the team could pause the system.
By the time the alarm sounded, the damage was already done and the stolen funds were quickly moved to different wallets to hide the trail.
How the Attacker Exploited the System
Research from blockchain experts like PeckShield shows that the hacker found a hole in an old smart contract.
This flaw lived in the minting function of the protocol and allowed the attacker to buy TRU tokens at zero cost.
Essentially, they printed money out of thin air.
Once they had these free tokens, they sold them back into the protocol’s liquidity pools.
This process drained the Ether stored in those pools and the attacker repeated this buy-and-sell cycle to maximise the theft.
TRU Token Price Crashes to Near Zero
The market reaction to the hack was instant and brutal. Before the news broke, the TRU token traded steadily around $0.16. Within hours, the price plummeted by 100%.
Data from CoinGecko showed the token hitting record lows near $0.00000001.
🚨ALERT🚨Hey @Truebitprotocol Our system has detected suspicious transaction with estimated loss of 26M!
An address got around 8,535 $ETH from “Truebit Protocol: Purchase”
More information will follow!
If you wish to safeguard yourself against such incident, please contact us to… pic.twitter.com/2AKvu1INyr— 🚨 Cyvers Alerts 🚨 (@CyversAlerts) January 8, 2026
Panic selling took hold as news of the $26 million loss spread. Most investors tried to exit their positions at once, and this caused liquidity on decentralised exchanges to dry up almost immediately.
Many holders found themselves stuck with worthless tokens they could no longer sell.
Security Teams Identify the Culprit
Investigators linked the attacker to a previous incident involving the Sparkle protocol.
That attack happened only 12 days ago and it seems the same person or group is actively hunting for weak smart contracts.
The Truebit team issued a statement advising the public to stay away from the affected contract.
They are now working with law enforcement to track the 8,535 ETH. However, recovering funds from a decentralised exploit is often very difficult.
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A Wake-Up Call for DeFi Security
This event serves as a reminder of the risks in defi. Even established projects can have hidden bugs in their code. The hack thus shows that one small mistake can destroy years of work.
It also shows how quickly trust can vanish in the crypto space.
Other platforms are now on high alert. Many are reviewing their own old contracts for similar minting flaws. Real-time monitoring proved useful here, as Cyvers caught the anomaly early.
However, even with fast alerts, the speed of the blockchain makes it hard to stop a determined thief.