Fantom’s ‘Foundation Wallets’ drained for $550K

The exact cause relating to the compromised wallets remains unknown, though the company confirmed the funds lost by the employee are being “tracked and investigated”

article-image

Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

The Fantom Foundation confirmed Tuesday that a “small number” of its wallets had been compromised, with losses amounting to roughly $550,000. 

Around 99% of the Foundation’s funds reportedly remain untouched and secure, the company said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.

Based on those figures, the remainder of its $55 million treasury remains unaffected.

Preliminary investigations have brought to light possible vulnerabilities via a zero-day hack in Google Chrome. However, the exact cause and mechanism of the breach remain under scrutiny, Fantom said.

Blockworks has reached out for clarification but has so far received no response.

While the affected wallets bore the label “Foundation Wallets,” they had previously been transitioned away from organizational use. 

These wallets were under the management of a Fantom employee, suggesting a more targeted nature to the attack rather than a broad sweep, the company said.

“A Fantom employee’s personal wallets were compromised. Some of these impacted wallets were labeled “Foundation Wallets”, but they were no longer being utilized by the organization and had been reassigned to a Fantom employee, making this a targeted personal attack,” it said. 

Read more: Upbit updates cold wallet policy in bid to thwart hackers

While the Foundation’s attempted to demonstrate confidence in the safety of its primary funds, some eyebrows are being raised considering the targeted nature of the breach and the security of reassigning foundation wallets to employees. 

Reassigned wallets, especially those under the purview of employees, should ideally have rigorous security measures in place, prompting questions about internal security protocols.


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter.

Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

An overview of the Base Ecosystem, with a focus on market leaders.

article-image

Although bitcoin hitting $120k by year’s end is looking unlikely

article-image

About 270 million HYPE has been claimed, valued around $7.6 billion

article-image

Stanford professors David Mazières and Dan Boneh will lead the lab alongside a cohort of graduate student researchers

article-image

With more companies holding BTC, bitcoin yielding strategies could become “a new corporate finance norm,” CoinShares posed

article-image

The proposal comes after Polygon governance considered a controversial use of bridged liquidity for yield

article-image

Can the community balance its decentralized ethos with the need for inclusivity and constructive debate?