Qubic Halts Mainnet Following Major Wallet Drain Incident
Qubic, a decentralized AI computing network, suspended its mainnet on October 18, 2026, after a significant security breach resulted in the draining of 1,404 user wallets. The attack, which occurred over a span of approximately 104 minutes, led to the theft of around 2.94 trillion QU tokens, valued at approximately $1.3 million. Qubic's developers clarified that the exploit was not due to a flaw in the network's code but rather stemmed from weak and predictable wallet seeds generated on legacy Apple devices and early iOS applications.
The attack began at 23:42 UTC on October 17 and concluded at 01:26 UTC on October 18. Following the incident, validators halted the network at tick 85,371,949, effectively locking the ledger and preventing further transactions. Approximately 87.1% of the stolen QU tokens remain immobilized on-chain, while the remaining 12.9% reached the MEXC exchange, which promptly froze the receiving account due to suspicions of its involvement in the attack. Additionally, Bitget suspended all QUBIC deposits and withdrawals as a precautionary measure.
In response to the incident, Qubic's team released client version 4.26.4 to address the seed-generation vulnerability and secured additional funds that were at risk. The network's staking feature, QEARN, was not impacted by the breach. This incident marks the second security challenge for Qubic in 2026, following an earlier exploit of the Vottun Bridge in August, which highlighted operational risks associated with the network's peripheral components.
As the Computor cluster, which governs the network's operations, deliberates on potential compensation for affected users, those impacted are advised to file police reports. The outcome of this decision will be crucial for the victims, while traders are currently facing limitations due to the suspension of QUBIC transactions on Bitget. The situation remains fluid as stakeholders await updates on the mainnet's restart and the handling of the frozen assets.
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Source: KLEA News