BitTensor User Wallet TAO Theft
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Bittensor offers an open-source, decentralized, artificial intelligence platform. It aims to decentralize economies and commodities, reducing reliance on centralized entities. One user's wallet was hacked and 28k of TAO (worth ~$11.2m) was taken. Investigations are ongoing and details are limited on this case.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]
About BitTensor
"BitTensor is pioneering the decentralized production of artificial intelligence."
"There is no greater story than people's relentless and dogged endeavor to overcome repressive regimes. Whether we notice it or not, centralized firms, markets and authorities are engaged in a never-ending disempowerment of human people's autonomy. Bittensor is creating a new future for humanity, where new economies and new commodities are decentralized by design and where no single entity is a sole authority."
"Bittensor is an open source platform on which you can produce competitive digital commodities. These digital commodities can be machine intelligence, storage space, compute power, protein folding, financial markets prediction, and many more. You are rewarded in TAO when you produce best digital commodities."
"Each category of the digital commodity is produced in a distinct subnet. Applications are built on these specific subnets. End-users of these applications would be served by these applications.
Subnets, which exist outside the blockchain and are connected to it, are off-chain competitions where only the best producers are rewarded. A subnet consists of off-chain subnet validators who initiate the competition for a specific digital commodity, and off-chain subnet miners who compete and respond by producing the best quality digital commodity.
Scores are assigned to the top subnet miners and subnet validators. The on-chain Yuma Consensus determines the TAO rewards for these top performers. The Bittensor blockchain, called subtensor, runs on decentralized validation nodes, just like any blockchain."
"You can be a consumer of a subnet's digital commodity. Or if you are a subject-matter expert, for example an ML practitioner, then be a subnet miner, produce best predictions for your customer and earn TAO. Or, you can be a subnet validator, find markets, enterprises, small-businesses, application developers or end-users, for these digital products, generate revenue and earn TAO. Or you can just be a subnet owner and create fertile grounds for the growth of your subnet validators and subnet miners and earn TAO."
"As the native token of Bittensor, TAO plays a central role in the network’s economy. As Bittensor’s network grows, the utility of TAO could expand beyond simple transactions to include governance, staking, and access to premium services, which could increase its value and demand."
The Reality
This sections is included if a case involved deception or information that was unknown at the time. Examples include:
- When the service was actually started (if different than the "official story").
- Who actually ran a service and their own personal history.
- How the service was structured behind the scenes. (For example, there was no "trading bot".)
- Details of what audits reported and how vulnerabilities were missed during auditing.
What Happened
"A TAO holder had $11.2M (28.2K TAO) stolen from them on June 1, 2024."
| Date | Event | Description |
|---|---|---|
| November 30th, 2023 11:21:41 AM MST | BitTensor Beginner's Guide | A beginner's guide is published for the BitTensor protocol. |
| June 1st, 2024 4:11:48 PM MDT | Blockchain Transaction | The blockchain transaction associated with the theft occurs. |
| June 4th, 2024 7:23:00 PM MDT | ZachXBT On Telegram | ZachXBT references the theft on Telegram. |
Technical Details
"Theft address 5G9Dpkg34SG3is47MzAjBdmV5iosGt1EJypFHzMPokkbymRA 0x09f76d4fc3bce5bf28543f45c4cee9999e0a0aaf"
"The attacker bridged the stolen funds to Ethereum and has been selling TAO for ETH and USDC. As of now they have 12.4K TAO ($5M) remaining and have been transferring USDC/ETH to Whitebit, HTX, & Binance."
Total Amount Lost
The total amount lost has been estimated at $11,200,000 USD.
How much was lost and how was it calculated? If there are conflicting reports, which are accurate and where does the discrepancy lie?
Immediate Reactions
How did the various parties involved (firm, platform, management, and/or affected individual(s)) deal with the events? Were services shut down? Were announcements made? Were groups formed?
Ultimate Outcome
What was the end result? Was any investigation done? Were any individuals prosecuted? Was there a lawsuit? Was any tracing done?
Total Amount Recovered
There do not appear to have been any funds recovered in this case.
What funds were recovered? What funds were reimbursed for those affected users?
Ongoing Developments
What parts of this case are still remaining to be concluded?
Individual Prevention Policies
No specific policies for individual prevention have yet been identified in this case.
For the full list of how to protect your funds as an individual, check our Prevention Policies for Individuals guide.
Platform Prevention Policies
Policies for platforms to take to prevent this situation have not yet been selected in this case.
For the full list of how to protect your funds as a financial service, check our Prevention Policies for Platforms guide.
Regulatory Prevention Policies
No specific regulatory policies have yet been identified in this case.
For the full list of regulatory policies that can prevent loss, check our Prevention Policies for Regulators guide.
References
- ↑ Telegram: Contact @investigations (Accessed Jul 4, 2024)
- ↑ Telegram: Contact @investigations (Accessed Jul 4, 2024)
- ↑ Bittensor (TAO) Blockchain Explorer : Taostats (Accessed Jul 4, 2024)
- ↑ Address 0x09f76d4fc3bce5bf28543f45c4cee9999e0a0aaf | Etherscan (Accessed Jul 4, 2024)
- ↑ Bittensor (TAO) Blockchain Explorer : Taostats (Accessed Jul 4, 2024)
- ↑ Bittensor (Accessed Jul 4, 2024)
- ↑ Bittensor (Accessed Jul 4, 2024)
- ↑ Docs Home | Bittensor (Accessed Jul 4, 2024)
- ↑ Bittensor TAO: The Definitive Beginner’s Guide | by Tao Finney | Medium (Accessed Jul 4, 2024)