On-chain investigator ZachXBT has revised his initial assessment of the $31 million exploit of Humanity Protocol’s H token, now supporting the project’s claim that a genuine private key compromise—not an insider scheme—caused the breach. The update marks a shift from his earlier public skepticism, which had raised the possibility that the incident was staged.
According to ZachXBT’s new analysis posted on X on June 9, the laundering activity of the stolen funds points away from any connection to questionable market-making or over-the-counter trades observed before the attack. He stated, “After further analysis of the laundering it seems the sketchy MM / OTC & private key compromise are independent of one another and not related.” He added, “I thought that initially due to the active MM & recent OTC before unlocks however the evidence shared points to otherwise.”
The clarification follows a day of turmoil in which attackers drained more than 17 wallets linked to the project and sold massive amounts of H, erasing over 80% of the token’s value. CEO Terence Kwok confirmed the private key leak, and on-chain trackers initially estimated losses near $19 million—later revised above $31 million after the hacker minted an additional 100 million H tokens on BNB Smart Chain by gaining proxy administrator rights over the token contract.
While ruling out self-theft, ZachXBT continues to question the aggressive price run-up and market-making activity that propelled H to an all-time high of $0.844 on June 2, weeks before a scheduled token unlock on June 25. He suggested that the hackers may have benefited from an already inflated price and called on Humanity Protocol to disclose details of its market-making agreements with a Hong Kong-based entity. The token crashed to around $0.123 during the sell-off, with trading volume exceeding $605 million.
The case highlights the crucial role of independent on-chain analysis in verifying official claims and comes as the crypto community braces for the upcoming token unlock, which could add further selling pressure.
