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Humanity Protocol Partly Recovers After $36 Million Hack With 44% Price Jump

After a major security breach, the H token bounces back somewhat, but the network is still vulnerable and a new unlock could add more pressure.

By Zenz van der Wielen
• 2 min read
Humanity Protocol Partly Recovers After $36 Million Hack With 44% Price Jump

Key Takeaways

  • Humanity Protocol's H token jumped as much as 44% in 24 hours after an earlier drop caused by a security breach.
  • Attackers got access to private keys and stole about 147 million H tokens, while 300 million more H tokens were minted.
  • The token is still trading about 60% below where it started this week, with a token unlock set for June 25.

Humanity Protocol saw its H token rise as much as 44% in 24 hours, making it one of the day's biggest gainers. The rebound follows a sharp drop last week, when the token lost about $1 billion (€0,9 billion) in market value after a serious security breach.

Security Breach Analysis

The hack happened between June 8 and 9 and was caused by attackers getting access to private keys stored on a developer's laptop infected with malware. That laptop held the admin key for the hot wallet and Safe signers for both Ethereum and the BNB Smart Chain. This let the attackers steal about 147 million H tokens and mint another 300 million H tokens on BNB Smart Chain, bringing the total loss to around 447 million H tokens.

Humanity Protocol is now working with outside security experts to figure out the full cause and timeline of the breach. The team has also offered a $1 million reward in Tether (USDT) for useful information that could help recover the stolen tokens. A live tracker of the attackers' addresses has also been launched and is being shared with exchanges and data aggregators. Any recovered funds will be used to buy back tokens.

Current Market Situation and Risks

Even with the recent price jump, the H token is still about 60% lower than it was at the start of the week and remains 74% below its all-time high of $0,844 (€732), which it hit on June 2. The token is currently trading around $0,227 (€197). One major concern is that the attacker still controls the ProxyAdmin on the ERC-BSC bridge and the BNB Smart Chain token, which leaves the network open to more minting attacks.

That warning comes just ahead of a planned token unlock on June 25, which could add more selling pressure to an already fragile market. Whether the price recovery holds will depend in part on how the recovery process goes and how much confidence comes back before the new tokens are released.

Why This Matters for European Crypto Investors

For European investors, this event highlights how important security is in the crypto market, especially for projects that use complex infrastructure like cross-chain bridges. Humanity Protocol's hack shows how vulnerable even advanced projects can be when security measures fall short. On top of that, the impact of token unlocks and market volatility can also be felt in European trading environments, especially for tokens with a similar structure and risk profile. In the U.S., political attention on incidents like this is growing too; a task force against cryptocurrency theft is meant to better coordinate the response to crypto crime there.

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