ICO Platform To Refund After $7 Million Hack
In the latest cryptocurrency news, the initial coin(ICO) support platform called KickICO has recently lost $7.7 million in KICK tokens. This happened following a hack which surfaced in the past few days. Subsequently, this forced the platform to move forward with a refund.
Missing KICK Tokens
In a blog post from CEO Anti Danilevski, the startup team found out that some 70 million KICK tokens were missing from its wallet. This reportedly happened after the KickCoin smart contract owner’s private key was compromised. As a result, a number of users’ wallets were emptied. Interestingly, the company is committed to returning tokens to all holders whose wallets were hacked.
Danilevski added that they found out about the breach when users started to complain, stating that they were unable to find tokens equivalent to $800,000 in worth in their wallets. The hackers basically used methods – the same ones used in the KickCoin smart integration with the Bancor network – to hide results of their activities. They even destroyed tokens that have 40 addresses and “created tokens at the other 40 addresses in the corresponding amount.”
The startup theorized that the increased number of hackers targeting the KickICO network happened after the company saw an exponential growth in the past two weeks. It is worth noting that its price has since tripled from $0.04 to $0.12 (ICO price).
Restoring Control
According to a spokesperson from Bancor, the specific function that allowed smart contract’s private key to be compromised was developed by KickICO itself. It was neither a requirement nor a part of the aforementioned integration, contrary to what the startup announced. The spokesperson added that as soon as the company decided to build the capability into its token, it must use every possible method to protect it. He added that regardless of where this capability is placed into the token, it is “totally independent” from a total integration with Bancor.
Danilevski revealed that KickICO has finally restored control over the smart contract. More importantly, it pledges to return all lost tokens to every affected user.
The platform was launched sometime in mid-2017 and was able to raise around 5,000 ETH in a pre-ICO funding round. After which, it was successful in raising nearly 85,000 ETH during its own public token sale. The startup’s partners include Bancor, which is a decentralized exchange startup, and several blockchain startups such as Coinhills, Pacatum, and Qoin, among others.