Massive Crypto Cyberattack Hits AI Projects and Mints Billions of Tokens
A massive crypto cyberattack exploited compromised authorization keys to mint and drain billions of AI-linked tokens, causing severe market volatility and highlighting critical security gaps.
A massive cyberattack hit several artificial intelligence crypto projects over the weekend, resulting in the unauthorized generation or extraction of roughly 2.3 billion tokens. According to blockchain analytics, the attacker exploited compromised administrative permissions rather than smart contract code vulnerabilities, minted millions of tokens including NTX, AGIX, CGV, and WMTx, and converted some assets into Ethereum.
The incident began on September 19, when approximately 8.7 million FET tokens were drained from the Fetch.ai migration contract and sold for 523 Ethereum, valued at around $1.4 million. Shortly thereafter, about 408.5 million NTX tokens were minted through an account possessing minting privileges. The following day, the attack expanded with the creation of roughly 260 million AGIX and 53.8 million WMTx tokens.
Market Impact and Liquidity Limits
The astronomical figures do not necessarily reflect the actual stolen cash value. Because the newly minted tokens flooded markets lacking sufficient liquidity, the attacker struggled to liquidate them at official prices. On-chain analysis indicates that the value of successfully converted funds or assets remaining in the primary wallets totaled about $2.25 million, though other estimates briefly put the theoretical value at $16.77 million including unsold tokens.
Compromised Keys, Not Code Flaws
A particularly alarming aspect of the breach is that the smart contracts themselves were not hacked. Instead, the attacker utilized compromised authorization keys, allowing the system to treat unauthorized actions as legitimate administrative commands. Affected project teams immediately halted bridges and conversion operations, while Fetch.ai assured users that its core contracts remain secure and FET operations continue.
The incident illustrates a central vulnerability in the crypto ecosystem: even a flawless smart contract can become a weapon if the keys granting it permissions are inadequately protected.
The breach triggered severe price turbulence across affected assets, with NTX plunging by dozens of percent and FET dropping by approximately 5%.
