Cryptoupdated 1h ago3 min read
Qubic Restarts Layer-1 Blockchain, Opens Recovery Claims After $1.4M Hack
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1,404 wallets drained, about $1.4 million in QU tokens. Qubic restarted the Layer-1 blockchain and opened a recovery claims process until May 1, 2027.
8 outlets told this the same way.
Restart and Recovery Claims
Qubic restarted its layer-1 blockchain after validators known as Computors approved a recovery plan and opened recovery claims, with Qubic saying affected users have until May 1, 2027, to submit claims.
Qubic said a wallet seed vulnerability allowed an attacker to drain roughly $1.4 million in QU tokens from 1,404 accounts, and Qubic’s latest update said the network resumed processing ticks 8:00 pm on Oct. 19, advancing beyond tick 85,371,949 where it was halted on Sunday.
Qubic warned users that if they created their wallet with the Qubic web wallet before version 4.26.4 (released 19 October), they should treat it as insecure even if their funds were never touched, and the team urged users to update to web wallet 4.26.4 or later, create a new wallet, and move funds to the new wallet.
Qubic said it fixed the seed-generation flaw in the latest version of its web wallet, while the recovery process continued through its reclaim platform for affected wallet holders.
Crypto News and KuCoin both described the same restart and claims workflow, with Crypto News adding that the attack affected 1,404 wallets and involved approximately 2.94 trillion QU.
How the Seed Flaw Worked
Qubic said the vulnerability exploited predictable wallet seeds generated by vulnerable wallet software, and Qubic said the vulnerability affected wallet seeds generated using Qubic’s web wallet on certain Apple devices and browsers. Qubic’s guidance told users that updating to web wallet 4.26.4 does not replace a recovery phrase generated using the vulnerable software, and Qubic said users must generate an entirely new recovery phrase and transfer remaining funds to the new address. Crowdfund Insider described Qubic’s protective halt at tick 85,371,949 and said the attacker drained 1,404 Qubic wallets, totalling around 2.94 trillion QU, between 23:42 UTC on 17 October and 01:26 UTC on 18 October 2026.
FinanceFeeds said Qubic attributed the attack to insufficient randomness during wallet seed generation, not to a vulnerability in the underlying transaction validation protocol of the blockchain, and FinanceFeeds described the affected wallet creation methods on iPhone or iPad browsers and Safari on macOS. Qubic also warned users against impersonators offering assistance through private messages, and Qubic said it would never request recovery phrases or initiate direct messages asking users to file claims.
Frozen Funds and Governance
Qubic’s emergency halt left most of the stolen tokens immobilized, with Qubic saying 87.1% of the stolen QU never left the network and that the remaining 12.9% reached the exchange MEXC, which froze the receiving account within about an hour. FinanceFeeds said recovery and possible restitution to affected users remained unresolved, and FinanceFeeds said follow-up decisions regarding the immobilized funds would be determined by Computors’ quorum. KuCoin said Qubic pointed users to a new claims workflow and reiterated that it has fixed the underlying issue in its web wallet, while KuCoin also said users can submit claims until May 1, 2027.
Crowdfund Insider said a community poll is open on Discord to inform the Computors vote, and Crowdfund Insider said a full technical report will be published once a recovery plan is settled, with no restart timeline announced at the time of its report. Qubic’s reclaim platform required claimants to submit evidence beyond wallet signatures, and Qubic said wallet signatures alone cannot resolve ownership disputes because an attacker who can reproduce a compromised seed may generate the same valid signature.