{
  "id": 15532775,
  "title": "Qubic freezes chain after attacker drains 1.4K wallets with weak seeds",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/19/qubic-freezes-chain-after-attacker-drains-1-4k-wallets-with-weak-seeds",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-10-19T01:03:27.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Cointelegraph",
    "slug": "cointelegraph",
    "url": "https://cointelegraph.com/news/qubic-freezes-chain-after-attacker-drains-14k-wallets-with-weak-seeds"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Qubic, a layer-1 blockchain network, halted operations on Sunday following an attack that drained approximately $1.4 million from over 1,400 accounts. The vulnerability stemmed from weakly generated wallet seeds, affecting users who created seeds using browsers on iPhones or iPads, Safari on Macs, or the Qubic iOS app before certain dates. According to Qubic, 87.1% of the stolen funds remain on the network and are frozen, while the remaining 12.9% were sent to crypto exchange MEXC. The exchange's team quickly froze the receiving account after approximately one hour. Qubic has addressed the flaw in its latest version of the web wallet and is now identifying affected wallets to prepare recovery options for a vote by the network's Computors. The network's core team will publish a full technical report after a recovery plan is decided. Qubic is a fee-less blockchain that supports transactions and smart contracts, utilizing a unique consensus mechanism called Useful Proof of Work (UPoW) that repurposes mining energy for AI training.",
  "summary": "Qubic says 87.1% of the stolen funds remain onchain and the rest were frozen at crypto exchange MEXC, as network validators prepare to vote on a recovery plan.",
  "key_points": [
    "Qubic blockchain halted operations after $1.4M drained from 1,400 wallets",
    "Attack exploited weak wallet seeds on iPhones, iPads, Macs, Safari",
    "87.1% of stolen funds frozen on network, 12.9% sent to MEXC exchange"
  ],
  "editors_take": "The exploitation of weak seed generation on specific Apple devices exposes critical vulnerabilities in how mobile browsers and apps handle cryptographic security for layer-1 blockchain users.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}