Hacker breaks into AI crypto bot aixbt’s dashboard to snatch 55 ETH

An attacker has breached the dashboard of an artificial intelligence crypto bot and made two prompts for it to transfer 55.5 Ether, worth $106,200, from its wallet, sparking concerns about the security of AI agents in crypto.

In a March 18 X post, “rxbt” — the maintainer of the bot called “aixbt,” which commentates on the market — said its core systems weren’t impacted, and the breach wasn’t the result of manipulating the AI.

“We’ve migrated servers, swapped keys, paused dashboard access for security upgrades, and reported hacker addresses to exchanges,” rxbt added.

CoinGecko data shows that the aixbt (AIXBT) token on the Ethereum layer 2 Base has fallen 15.5% to 9 cents since the hack, which happened on March 18 at 1:58 am UTC.

Observers initially thought someone had manipulated the bot, after the AI agent platform Simulacrum AI posted to X that it sent a 55.5 Ether (ETH) tip to the attacker, X user “0xhungusman,” whose account has since been suspended.

AI-powered bots that commentate on and trade in the crypto market, such as aixbt, ai16z and Truth Terminal, continue to be experimented with in crypto as traders look to leverage AI in their trading strategies.

Spencer Farrar, a partner at the AI and crypto-focused venture capital firm Theory Ventures, told Cointelegraph that these AI applications are “a bit frothy” at the moment, but more utility could come down the line.

Farrar expects to see further experimentation with crypto AI tokens, as they allow retail investors to speculate on smaller market cap ideas that largely aren’t as accessible in the stock market.

“Things tend to start off like this in the open-source world; you see a ton of tinkering, and then perhaps we’ll see something really big come of it.”

Decentralized AI researcher “S4mmy” said on X that AI agents managing crypto funds must be battle-tested further to ensure threat actors can’t easily compromise AI bots and steal funds.

“Excited to see how these solutions evolve over the next 12 months as large DeFi protocols integrate existing solutions or develop their own,” they added.