KITE token attack on Ethereum: transfers paused, new contract live; reported US$13 million loss unconfirmed
The KITE Foundation said it contained an attack on its Ethereum token on 5-6 August and lost no tokens. A US$13 million theft is not confirmed. Transfers were paused, then a new contract went live on 28 August. Check the contract address before moving KITE.
If you hold KITE on Ethereum, make sure you are using the new contract address that the Kite Foundation announced and that exchanges such as OKX list. Do not send tokens to the old address. If you hold KITE in your own wallet and something looks wrong after the move, use the Foundation's official support form.
What’s happening
On 5 August 2026 the KITE Foundation, behind the Kite AI token, detected unusual KITE transfer activity on Ethereum. On 6 August it said it had contained an attack, suspended KITE transfers and cross-chain bridging on Ethereum, and frozen the affected tokens. It said no tokens were lost and that its investigation was continuing. Some crypto-security feeds and trackers describe a private-key compromise that drained 16 wallets for about US$13 million. I could not confirm that figure, the wallet count or the method from any page I read. The one incident tracker I read lists the loss as US$0 and the attacker as unidentified. Later in August the token moved to a new Ethereum contract. OKX paused KITE deposits and withdrawals from 26 August, and the Foundation announced the new contract live on 28 August. The pages I read do not say how balances were carried over, whether the migration was 1:1, or whether attacker addresses were excluded. The Foundation's account differs from the reported theft, and no later update was found.
- What
- Breach
- Affects
- KITE (Kite AI) token on Ethereum
- Fixed in
- Nothing to patch
- Since
- 5 Aug 2026
- Closed
- 28 Aug 2026
Timeline
- New fix
The KITE Foundation announced that the new KITE contract on Ethereum was unpaused and on-chain transfers were live. The pages I read do not describe how balances were carried over or whether any addresses were excluded.
- Update
OKX suspended KITE deposits and withdrawals from 02:00 UTC for a move to a new Ethereum contract, with the window running to 06:00 UTC on 29 August. OKX says it will stop supporting deposits on the old contract address.
- Update
The KITE Foundation said its monitoring flagged unusual KITE transfer activity on Ethereum. It said it suspended KITE transfers and cross-chain bridging on Ethereum, froze the affected tokens and would disclose details once confirmed. It said no tokens were lost. The tokens are described as frozen and kept off the secondary market.
- Made public
An incident tracker dates the attack on the KITE token on Ethereum to 5 August 2026, at about 21:00 UTC. The tracker lists the estimated loss as US$0 and names no attacker.
Sources
- KITE Foundation Token Attack — Detected and Contained0xposed · 14 Aug 2026
- Kite Foundation: KITE Token Attacked on Ethereum Mainnet, Incident Quickly Contained with No Token LossTechFlow · 6 Aug 2026
- Kite Foundation Foils Ethereum Attack, No KITE Tokens LostCoin Alert News · 6 Aug 2026
- OKX to support KITE crypto migrationOKX · 26 Aug 2026
- Kite: New KITE Ethereum contract goes live - 28 Aug 2026CoinMarketCal via TradingView · 28 Aug 2026