The whale, the hack and the psychological earthquake that hit HEX

A $4.5-million HEX hack shook its staking ecosystem and exposed a web of phishing, laundering and wallet-draining operations.

An elderly crypto whale known as “HEX 19” lost nearly $4.5 million in a slow-moving hack that drained his staked HEX (HEX) over multiple years. 

At first, it looked like a HEX whale was cashing out. But it wasn’t long before the community realized he didn’t voluntarily unstake his tokens — he had become a victim of a major exploit.

The cyberattack started in November 2021, touched multiple phishing wallets, and was traced back to an online entity known as “Konpyl,” a threat actor familiar to crypto investigators.

Read more