Cybersecurity Firm Hacken Suffers 98% Token Crash After Private Key Compromise

Hacken, a Ukrainian Web3 cybersecurity company, suffered a terrible security breach over the weekend. Attackers minted almost 900 million

Cybersecurity Firm Hacken Suffers 98% Token Crash After Private Key Compromise

Quick overview

  • Hacken, a Ukrainian Web3 cybersecurity firm, experienced a significant security breach resulting in the unauthorized minting of nearly 900 million HAI tokens.
  • The breach, attributed to human error, caused the value of HAI tokens to plummet by 98%, leading to a market cap drop from $12.7 million to $7.2 million.
  • Hacken's CEO, Dyma Budorin, accepted full responsibility for the incident, which occurred during architectural changes to the company's blockchain bridge infrastructure.
  • In response to the breach, Hacken plans to transition HAI into a regulated security token and has halted all bridge transactions on Ethereum and BNB Chain.

Hacken, a Ukrainian Web3 cybersecurity company, suffered a terrible security breach over the weekend. Attackers minted almost 900 million unauthorized tokens on the Ethereum and BNB Chain networks, causing the company’s native HAI token to lose 98% of its value.

Cybersecurity Firm Hacken Suffers 98% Token Crash After Private Key Compromise
Hacken Token (HAI) Plunges 99% Following $250K Exploit and Reputational Damage

Hacken said that the event was caused by “human error.” It started when a secret key linked to an account with minting rights was hacked, which let bad actors mint huge amounts of HAI tokens and then quickly sell them on decentralized exchanges. The price of the token fell from $0.015 to $0.000056, then rose significantly to its current trading price of about $0.00026.

More About the Hacken Attack

Hacken’s official comments say that the hacked private key was connected to minting roles on both the Ethereum and BNB Chain networks. The attackers were able to mint about 900 million HAI tokens, which almost doubled the total supply of the tokens and caused the price to drop by a lot. The attackers stole about $250,000 worth of tokens, but the market was hit far harder. HAI’s market cap fell from about $12.7 million to $7.2 million.

Hacken said in an X post, “A private key of an account with a minter role (ETH & BNB) was compromised, which led to unauthorized HAI minting and a dump on BSC DEXs.” The business stressed that the deployer wallet itself was not hacked, which made it easy for the team to rapidly withdraw access from the affected minting accounts and take back control.

Bridge Infrastructure Issues

Hacken said that the private key compromise happened during what he called “architectural changes” to the company’s blockchain bridge architecture. These adjustments were made to avoid these kinds of dangers, which is ironic. Dyma Budorin, the CEO of Hacken, claimed full responsibility for the disaster. He said that he had put off building multi-signature bridge infrastructure for five years, even though he knew the risks.

“Hacken’s bridge was designed when the market and technology were substantially different. The business said, “Redesigning a deployed bridge means moving contracts, which is a complicated legal and technical process.” Hacken has put a stop to all bridge transactions on Ethereum and BNB Chain until further notice as a safety measure.

Recovery Plans and HAI Token Future

Because of the problem, Hacken said that all HAI tokens bought on affected networks after the attack “will not be supported in the new tokenomics.” The company wants to turn HAI into a regulated security token that reflects Hacken equity. It will do this by merging HAI and Hacken equity stockholders, which is worth more than $100 million.

Budorin stressed that real user balances can still be tracked and that HAI holders will have the chance to take part in a future token swap. More information will be available soon. The business is getting ready to write a full report on what happened after its internal probe.

What Does the Hacken Incident Mean for the Crypto Market?

The Hacken incident shows that the Web3 ecosystem still has security holes. Hacken’s own security report for the first quarter of 2025 ironically named access control vulnerabilities as the biggest threat to Web3, saying that they cost $1.6 billion in losses in only the first quarter. The research said, “Smart contract vulnerabilities are still a problem, but most damage is now caused by mistakes made by people, processes, or permission systems.”

This event is just one of many large crypto hacks that have happened in 2025. For example, hackers recently attacked the liquid staking system Meta Pool, where they made roughly $27 million worth of tokens but only stole about $132,000.

Reputation Damage

CEO Budorin said that even while the cash loss was considerable, the harm to the company’s reputation has been the worst part of the tragedy. The decline in pricing is the worst thing that has happened so far. He said, “It’s not a problem in the long run,” showing that he trusts the company to learn from and recover from this security setback.

The experience is a strong reminder that even companies who specialize in blockchain security are not immune to the flaws they help others find and fix.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR See More
Arslan Butt
Lead Markets Analyst – Multi-Asset (FX, Commodities, Crypto)
Arslan Butt serves as the Lead Commodities and Indices Analyst, bringing a wealth of expertise to the field. With an MBA in Behavioral Finance and active progress towards a Ph.D., Arslan possesses a deep understanding of market dynamics. His professional journey includes a significant role as a senior analyst at a leading brokerage firm, complementing his extensive experience as a market analyst and day trader. Adept in educating others, Arslan has a commendable track record as an instructor and public speaker. His incisive analyses, particularly within the realms of cryptocurrency and forex markets, are showcased across esteemed financial publications such as ForexCrunch, InsideBitcoins, and EconomyWatch, solidifying his reputation in the financial community.

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