The Qubic blockchain paused itself on October 18 after an attacker emptied 1,404 wallets of about 2.94 trillion QU, worth roughly $1.3 million to $1.4 million depending on the source.
Qubic says the cause was weak, predictable wallet seeds created on Apple devices, not a flaw in the network’s protocol. The emergency halt kept most of the stolen funds from moving, and MEXC froze the portion that reached its platform.
What Happened
According to Qubic’s official <a href="https://x.com/_Qubic_/status/2111796725677715474?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">statement</a> on X, the attacker drained the wallets between 23:42 UTC on October 17 and 01:26 UTC on October 18, a window of about 104 minutes. The network’s validators, known as Computors, coordinated a protective halt at tick 85,371,949. With no transactions processing, the drained funds cannot be moved or sold while the team works on a resolution.
Qubic said 87.1% of the drained tokens (about 2.56 trillion QU) never left the network and remain frozen in place. The other 12.9% (about 379 billion QU) was sent to MEXC, whose team froze the receiving account within about an hour. Exchanges were notified and suspended QUBIC deposits and withdrawals. MEXC said the pause was requested by the project team, and Bitget suspended deposits and withdrawals citing wallet maintenance.
The Cause: Not Enough Randomness
Qubic said some wallet seeds were generated with insufficient randomness, making them weaker than they should be, and that the attacker exploited this to access the wallets. A seed is the secret from which a wallet’s keys are derived, so if it can be predicted, so can the keys. The project stressed that the issue was in seed generation, not in the Qubic protocol itself.
Seeds are affected if they were created: – on an iPhone or iPad, in any browser, before October 18, 2026 – on a Mac using Safari, before October 18, 2026 – in the Qubic iOS app, before July 2025
The team fixed seed generation in version 4.26.4, released October 18, so no new weak seeds can be created. The fix does not strengthen seeds that already exist, so wallets created in the affected environments remain at risk until their funds are moved to a wallet created with the corrected software.
What Happens to the Frozen Funds
Qubic said any resolution is a decision for the Computor quorum under the network’s own rules. The core team is identifying every affected identity and preparing options for the quorum, and a community poll is open on Discord so the Computors can see where users stand. Qubic’s design uses 676 Computors, and a supermajority is needed for network decisions, so the outcome will come from a validator vote rather than a single company’s decision.
What Affected Users Should Do
Qubic advised anyone who lost funds to file a report with police or cybercrime authorities in their country, including the wallet ID, the amount lost, and the transaction link from explorer.qubic.org. Formal reports help exchanges keep funds frozen.
Analysts also warn to expect “recovery service” scams. Qubic says it will never message users first, ask for a seed, or charge for recovery. As general guidance, anyone who created a Qubic wallet in the affected environments should treat that seed as compromised and move funds to a new wallet created with updated software once the network resumes.
Who Is Behind Qubic
Qubic describes itself as a decentralized network that combines blockchain with AI computation. It was created by Sergey Ivancheglo, known as Come-from-Beyond, who also co-founded IOTA and NXT. Its “useful proof of work” directs mining power toward training neural networks, and ordinary transfers carry no fee.
A Familiar Failure Pattern
This attack belongs to the same class as the Coldcard hardware wallet incident earlier this year, where predictable seed phrases let attackers reconstruct private keys offline. In both cases the cryptography was not broken. The randomness that should have protected the seed was missing. Self-custody security depends on trusting that wallet software generates truly random seeds, which users have almost no way to check on their own.
The Bigger Picture: Hacks in 2026
Qubic’s loss is small by 2026 standards, but the year has been punishing:
– CertiK counts about 656 to 658 security incidents and roughly $2.68 billion in losses through September, with about $420.4 million frozen or returned, bringing its adjusted total to about $2.26 billion. Trackers differ: Finbold puts the year-to-date total near $2.1 billion. – TRM Labs recorded $972 million across 207 hacks in the first half, and CertiK counted $1.26 billion across 247 incidents in the third quarter. – September was the worst month, with PeckShield counting 55 major hacks and $766.5 million stolen. The largest incidents were the Bitget exchange hack ($387.5 million), Liquid Network (about $320 million, mostly returned), KelpDAO (about $292 million), and Drift (about $285 million). – North Korea-linked thefts exceeded $1 billion this year, according to Elliptic. Bitcoin gained 40% in the third quarter even as hacks climbed, a reminder that security problems have persisted alongside the market rally.
What Comes Next
The network remains paused. The key developments to watch are the Computor vote on the frozen funds, a restart date, and whether exchanges resume QUBIC deposits and withdrawals. Users with Apple-generated seeds should plan to migrate as soon as it is safe to do so.

Hacker Steals About $1.3M from 1,404 Qubic Wallets Using Weak Seed Phrases Generated on Apple Devices; Network Halted

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