Telcoin Restores User Balances After Exploit, Records 400% Increase in Deposits

Telcoin has restored all user balances just weeks after an exploit that resulted in $1.2 million worth of funds being transferred out of some users’ accounts, the firm told CoinDesk in an X message today.

“Making the decision to preemptively restore affected user wallets from our company treasury was a no-brainer, and I’m proud of the team for making that happen in record time,” Paul Neuner, Telcoin founder and CEO, wrote.

In late December, Telcoin, which develops financial applications such as trading and remittance tools for mobile users, was exploited due to an apparent error relating to a wallet implementation on Polygon that caused user balances to drop on the Telcoin mobile application.

The issue apparently occurred due to a fault in the interaction between Telcoin’s digital wallet and a proxy contract. The proxy incorrectly performed certain storage functions, leading to a technical conflict that allowed for the withdrawal of assets, Neuner said.

No admin keys were leaked, so broader Telcoin ecosystem remained unaffected by the exploit.

“Telcoin preemptively restored funds from the company’s treasury while we worked with leading blockchain security experts and law enforcement to freeze and recover stolen funds,” the company told CoinDesk in a message.

Meanwhile, deposits soared as the quick redressal improved bullish sentiment among users.

“In the first day since restoring Telcoin App services, we saw over a 400 percent increase in deposits compared to last month, with a ratio of US$3.60 being deposited for every US$1 being withdrawn,” the company said.