Hacker Breaches AI Crypto Bot Aixbt's Dashboard and Steals 55 ETH

An attacker has breached the dashboard of an AI-powered crypto bot and triggered a transfer of $106,200 worth of Ether from its wallet.

An attacker infiltrated the dashboard of an AI-powered crypto bot and issued two commands to transfer 55.5 Ether, worth $106,200, from its wallet, raising alarms about the security of AI systems in cryptocurrency.

In a March 18 X post, “rxbt,” the maintainer of the bot "aixbt," which provides market analysis, clarified that the breach did not affect the bot's core systems and was not due to AI manipulation.

“We’ve migrated servers, changed keys, paused dashboard access for security improvements, and reported the hacker addresses to exchanges,” rxbt stated.

Source: rxbt

CoinGecko data reveals that the aixbt (AIXBT) token on the Ethereum layer 2 Base has dropped by 15.5%, now priced at 9 cents, following the hack on March 18 at 1:58 am UTC.

Initially, observers suspected the bot had been manipulated after the AI platform Simulacrum AI posted on X, claiming it had sent a 55.5 Ether tip to the attacker, an X user named "0xhungusman," whose account has since been suspended.

Source: Simulacrum AI

AI-powered bots that analyze and trade in the crypto market, such as aixbt, ai16z, and Truth Terminal, are still being explored as traders look to incorporate AI into their strategies.

Spencer Farrar, a partner at the AI and crypto-focused venture capital firm Theory Ventures, shared that these AI applications are “a bit frothy” at the moment, but he believes more utility could emerge in the future.

Farrar anticipates continued experimentation with crypto AI tokens, as they provide retail investors with the opportunity to speculate on smaller market cap projects that are often harder to access in traditional stock markets.

“Things tend to start off like this in the open-source world; you see a lot of tinkering, and then perhaps something really significant will come from it,” he said.

Decentralized AI researcher “S4mmy” stated on X that AI agents handling crypto funds need to undergo more rigorous testing to ensure that threat actors cannot easily exploit vulnerabilities and steal funds.

"Excited to see how these solutions evolve over the next 12 months as large DeFi protocols integrate existing solutions or develop their own," they added.

According to CoinGecko data, the market capitalization of tokens associated with AI agents is currently valued at $4.2 billion.