Duelbits Crypto Casino Suffers $7 Million Hot Wallet Private Key Compromise

Crypto gambling platform Duelbits has taken its site offline following a security breach that resulted in approximately $7 million being drained from its hot wallets on Thursday. The incident, suspected to be a private key compromise, affected assets across four distinct blockchain networks. The platform's co-founder has confirmed the hack, assuring users that their funds are secure.

Key Takeaways

• Crypto gambling platform Duelbits has gone offline after a roughly $7 million hack.
• The security breach impacted hot wallets across Ethereum networks, BNB Chain, Tron, and Bitcoin networks.
• A suspected private key compromise led to the outflow of funds, with user funds declared safe by the co-founder.

Technical context

The attack involved the compromise of hot wallets, which are online cryptocurrency wallets frequently connected to the internet for operational transactions, on Ethereum, BNB Chain, Tron network transactions, and Bitcoin. A private key compromise allows unauthorized access to these wallets, enabling attackers to initiate transactions and transfer assets without the operator's consent. The stolen funds on the Ethereum network included 836 ETH, 593,000 USDT, 97,000 USDC, 31,500 DAI, and 12.4 billion SHIB.

Incident details

The security incident resulted in approximately $7 million in assets being drained from Duelbits' hot wallets. Blockchain security firm Scam Sniffer first identified the outflows, noting that 8.1 BTC were lost from the Bitcoin hot wallet. Following the compromise, most of the stolen assets were converted into ether (ETH) and consolidated into a single new Ethereum address, 0x8db9d7f0a03d212c566ca80c66e294cecc20c306, which currently holds around 2,234 ETH, valued at approximately $6 million. As of publication, these consolidated funds had not been moved further. Duelbits' co-founder Joe stated:

"Confirming a ~$7M hack. Still investigating exactly what happened and how," adding that "user funds are safe." He also indicated that the platform would remain offline until the investigation concludes and its hot wallets are refilled. This incident bears resemblance to a 2023 attack on crypto casino Stake, which also involved a private key compromise and resulted in $40 million being stolen. Before the incident, DappRadar ranked Duelbits 17th among 43 tracked live crypto casinos by on-chain deposits, with approximately $5.7 million across its monitored wallets.

Sources: Hackers drain $7 million from crypto casino Duelbits in suspected private key compromise