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Humanity Protocol private-key theft drains over US$32 million; H token replaced

Stolen project keys let attackers drain Humanity Protocol wallets and create H tokens, collapsing the price. Replacement tokens and a claims process followed. H holders should check their wallet or exchange and use Humanity's official recovery portal.

What to do

If you held H at the snapshot, check your wallet or ask your exchange about replacement tokens. For H held in liquidity pools, vaults or other contracts, or eligible purchases after the snapshot, use claim.humanity.org for manual review. Kraken's withdrawal deadline has passed; affected Kraken customers should contact its support about their remaining balances.

What’s happening

Humanity Protocol suffered a crypto theft on 8 June after phishing and malware exposed a director's private keys. CoinDesk initially estimated losses above US$32 million from about 17 project-linked wallets. The Crypto Times reported an initial post-mortem total of 447 million H stolen or created without authorisation, including 300 million minted tokens. Humanity's later Quantstamp summary instead described roughly 150 operational wallets drained and about 100 million H minted on BSC; the published figures therefore differ. H's price collapsed, affecting holders and people supplying trading liquidity. Humanity issued a replacement token and established a recovery programme: ordinary wallet holders receive tokens automatically, while liquidity-pool holdings and certain other cases require manual claims. On 2 July, founder Terence Kwok said recovery of the stolen funds was unlikely and compensation work continued. As at 3 November, the reviewed sources do not confirm a final recovered amount, completion of compensation or criminal charges.

What
Breach
Affects
Humanity Protocol H token, project wallets and bridge infrastructure on Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain
Fixed in
Nothing to patch
Since
5 June 2026
Closed
2 Oct 2026

Timeline

  1. Update

    Kraken had scheduled liquidation of remaining H and HUMANITY balances for 28 September–2 October, following a 25 September withdrawal deadline. Its published notice does not confirm the liquidation outcome or proceeds.

  2. Update

    Founder Terence Kwok told The Block that recovering the stolen funds was unlikely. Replacement tokens had been distributed to some addresses and exchanges, compensation work continued, and law enforcement had been contacted in several jurisdictions.

  3. Update

    Kraken confirmed Humanity had issued a replacement token, labelled HUMANITY on Kraken. It scheduled a 1:1 distribution for 1 July using balances at 17:25 UTC on 8 June, while permanently disabling trading and deposits.

  4. Vendor revised

    Quantstamp's company-published findings described roughly 150 operational wallets drained, about 141.18 million H taken from the Ethereum bridge and about 100 million H minted on BSC. These figures differ from the earlier reports.

  5. Update

    The Crypto Times reported that Humanity's initial post-mortem counted approximately 447 million H stolen or created without authorisation, including 300 million newly minted tokens. A recovery programme was being developed.

  6. Made public

    CoinDesk estimated losses above US$32 million across about 17 project-linked wallets. Humanity confirmed a foundation member's keys had been compromised and warned users to avoid its bridge and liquidity pools.

  7. Update

    The attacker used stolen keys to take tokens and create unauthorised H on Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain. Quantstamp said sales continued for roughly eight hours and drove H's price down about 89%.

  8. UpdateNothing to patch

    According to Quantstamp, issuer director Chong Yee Wai downloaded an attachment from an email impersonating Bithumb. Malware subsequently gave the attacker access to his Windows computer and wallet keys.

Sources

  1. $H Incident SummaryHumanity Protocol / Quantstamp · 11 June 2026
  2. H Token Recovery ProgramHumanity Protocol
  3. Important update regarding Humanity (H)Kraken · 26 June 2026
  4. Humanity Protocol token crashes more than 80% after a $32 million private-key hackCoinDesk · 9 June 2026
  5. Three Breach Vectors, 447M Tokens: Humanity Protocol Details $H ExploitThe Crypto Times · 9 June 2026
  6. Humanity Protocol repositions toward enterprise AI after $36 million hack, founder saysThe Block · 2 July 2026
HARD Live follows this until it’s over: each change is added to the timeline with its source. Everything live · Everything from June 2026 · JSON · RSS