Truebit’s TRU Token Collapses After $26M Exploit Drains Protocol Reserves

Truebit’s TRU token plunged nearly 100% on Thursday after an exploit siphoned approximately 8,535 ether—worth about $26.6 million—from the protocol’s reserves, according to onchain data and independent blockchain researchers.

Truebit, an Ethereum-based verification and computation network, confirmed that it is investigating a security incident involving malicious actors. The team said it is working with law enforcement and taking steps to contain the damage.

Blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain estimated the loss at 8,535 ETH. Independent researcher Weilin Li linked the attack to a vulnerability in an older smart contract deployed roughly five years ago. According to the analysis, a minting function could incorrectly return a zero purchase price for unusually large token buys.

This flaw allowed the attacker to repeatedly acquire TRU tokens at little to no cost, then immediately sell them back into the protocol’s bonding-curve reserve, extracting ether with each cycle.