Duelbits Confirms About $7M Hot Wallet Drain Across Four Blockchains, Site Offline
Duelbits confirmed a roughly $7M hot wallet hack on Thursday, pulled its site offline and says user funds are safe while blockchain trackers dispute the amount stolen.
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Why it matters
A private key compromise is the same method used against Stake, which lost $40 million in 2023, and Duelbits also lost $4.6 million in a 2024 incident, making the casino a repeat target. Roughly $6 million in consolidated ether sitting in one address is recoverable if the funds are frozen, but the site shutdown leaves customers' deposits inaccessible in the meantime and the cause of the key exposure is still undisclosed.
Where the sources disagree
Amount of USDT taken by the attacker
$1.62 million
Bitcoin.com News
$6 million
Bitcoin Insider
Bitcoin Insider reported that the two underlying write-ups cite different USDT figures and that the exact amount is unresolved pending on-chain verification.
Total value of the outflow tracked by security firms
about $4.2 million across Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain and Tron
Unchained
about $4.3 million on Ethereum and BNB Chain
Unchained
roughly $4.9 million across Ethereum, Bitcoin, BNB Chain and Tron
Bitcoin.com News
Blockchain trackers put the visible outflow well below the roughly $7M Duelbits confirmed.
Cause of the wallet drain
suspected private key compromise
CoinDesk, Crypto News (CryptoNews.net), Unchained
cause not publicly described by Duelbits
Unchained
Scam Sniffer calls it a suspected private key compromise and Joe has not described the cause, saying only that a few people ruined it for everyone else.
Figures that do not reconcile
Found by comparing the numbers in the reports automatically. They are differences, not yet confirmed to be about the same thing.
amount taken (duelbits)
$7 million
CoinDesk
$4.6 million
Bitcoin.com News
CoinDesk reports $7 million, Bitcoin.com News reports $4.6 million (34% apart).
amount taken
$4.6 million
Bitcoin.com News
$7 million
Crypto News (CryptoNews.net)
Bitcoin.com News reports $4.6 million, Crypto News (CryptoNews.net) reports $7 million (34% apart).
amount taken (wallets)
$6 million
CoinDesk
$7 million
Crypto News (CryptoNews.net)
CoinDesk reports $6 million, Crypto News (CryptoNews.net) reports $7 million (14% apart).
Key facts
Duelbits co-founder Joe confirmed a roughly $7M hack and said user funds are safe.
7,000,000 USDDisputed figureReported by CoinDesk
Duelbits took its site offline and said it would stay down until the investigation finished and its hot wallets were refilled.
Reported by CoinDesk
Scam Sniffer flagged outflows from Duelbits hot wallets on Ethereum, BNB Chain and Tron as a suspected private key compromise.
Reported by CoinDesk
The Duelbits bitcoin hot wallet lost 8.1 BTC.
8.1 BTCReported by CoinDesk
Scam Sniffer put the early outflows at about $4.2 million sent to newly created addresses across Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain and Tron.
4,200,000 USDDisputed figureReported by Unchained
PeckShield counted about $4.3 million leaving Duelbits wallets on Ethereum and BNB Chain.
4,300,000 USDDisputed figureReported by Unchained
Bitcoin.com News cites Scamsniffer and Peckshield tracking roughly $4.9 million leaving Duelbits hot wallets across Ethereum, Bitcoin, BNB Chain and Tron, including $2.23 million in ether, $680,000 in bitcoin and $1.62 million in USDT.
4,900,000 USDDisputed figureReported by Bitcoin.com News
CoinDesk reported that most stolen assets were swapped to ether and consolidated into a single address holding about 2,234 ETH worth roughly $6 million that had not moved.
2,234 ETHDisputed figureReported by CoinDesk
What happened
Duelbits, a crypto casino, took its site offline on Thursday after attackers drained its hot wallets, and co-founder Joe confirmed a roughly $7M hack on X while saying user funds were safe. Scam Sniffer first flagged unusual transfers from Duelbits hot wallets on Ethereum, BNB Chain and Tron, called it a suspected private key compromise, and later reported the bitcoin hot wallet lost 8.1 BTC. PeckShield counted about $4.3 million moving on Ethereum and BNB Chain, and Scam Sniffer put the early outflows at about $4.2 million, both well below the $7M Joe described; Bitcoin.com News cites Scamsniffer and Peckshield tracking roughly $4.9 million leaving wallets on Ethereum, Bitcoin, BNB Chain and Tron. CoinDesk reported that most stolen assets were swapped to ether and consolidated into one address holding about 2,234 ETH worth roughly $6 million, which had not moved, and Unchained said the attacker received 836 ETH plus smaller amounts of other tokens. Bitcoin Insider flagged that outlets disagree on the USDT figure, with AMBCrypto citing roughly 593,000 USDT and The Cryptonomist EN citing roughly 1.62 million USDT, and neither has been settled on-chain. Duelbits has not publicly said which wallets account for the rest of the roughly $7 million, has not described the cause, and reversed an earlier estimate of a return within about 15 hours, with Joe saying on Friday the site needs more downtime to refill hot and cold wallets.
How the story developed
- First report
First report by CoinDesk
Crypto casino Duelbits goes offline after $7 million hot wallet hack
- Update
Scam Sniffer flags unusual transfers from Duelbits hot wallets
Outflows detected on BNB Chain, Ethereum and Tron, later joined by 8.1 BTC leaving the bitcoin hot wallet.
- Official statement
Co-founder Joe confirms a roughly $7M hack and says user funds are safe
Joe wrote that the platform stays offline until the investigation finishes and its hot wallets are refilled.
- Official statement
Official statement from Bitcoin.com News
Crypto Casino Duelbits Hit With $7M Hack, Taken Offline
- Official statement
Duelbits posts it is investigating a security incident and has taken the site offline
The official account said the shutdown was a precaution while it worked to ensure it was safe to restore service.
- Update
Joe says the team identified what happened and expects Duelbits back in about 15 hours
He wrote that the company is rebuilding its deposit and withdrawal servers to be 100% secure and promised a statement within 24 hours.
- Official statement
Duelbits says it is finishing final security checks
A Friday morning post promised a more detailed update soon and did not describe the cause.
- Update
Joe extends the downtime to refill hot and cold wallets
At 2:28 p.m. ET Friday he said the casino needs more downtime and that customers can withdraw immediately if they want to.
How coverage built up
Independent sources over time, counted the way the consensus panel counts them: a republication of a wire story does not move the line.
- 24 Sept 2026, 15:48 UTC: CoinDesk — 1 independent source, 1 reports
- 24 Sept 2026, 17:56 UTC: Bitcoin.com News, official — 2 independent sources, 2 reports
- 25 Sept 2026, 04:10 UTC: Crypto News (CryptoNews.net) — 3 independent sources, 3 reports
- 25 Sept 2026, 19:50 UTC: Unchained — 4 independent sources, 5 reports
Affected entities
Also mentioned: USD Coin, Dai, Shiba Inu
Original sources
| Publisher | Report | Role | Published |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin.com News Company, official | Crypto Casino Duelbits Hit With $7M Hack, Taken Offline | Independent | |
| CoinDesk Crypto media | Crypto casino Duelbits goes offline after $7 million hot wallet hack | Original | |
| Unchained Crypto media | Crypto Casino Duelbits Loses $7 Million in a Hack, but Says User Funds Are Safe | Independent | |
| Crypto News (CryptoNews.net) Aggregator | Duelbits crypto hack drains $7M as casino goes offline | Syndicated | |
| Bitcoin Insider Aggregator | Duelbits Hack: Reports Disagree on USDT Amount Stolen | Syndicated |
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