How much was lost in the Hachiko hack?

The Hachiko hack resulted in $254K in losses on August 24, 2023.

What attack technique was used in the Hachiko exploit?

The Hachiko exploit utilized Rugpull. Understanding this attack vector is critical for smart contract auditors and developers building secure DeFi protocols.

How can developers prevent similar smart contract attacks?

Preventing smart contract hacks requires a combination of secure coding practices, thorough security audits, and understanding common attack vectors like reentrancy, oracle manipulation, and access control flaws. Smart Contract Hacking (SCH) provides hands-on training to help developers and auditors identify and prevent vulnerabilities before deployment.

Hachiko Hack

TOTAL LOST $254K

Low Aug 24, 2023 Rugpull

Affected Chain 2023 Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #1208 By amount stolen

Auditors 1 Prior security audit

Incident Overview

Quick Summary

Hachiko token project rugpulled by deployer, removing liquidity worth 253,702 USD from UniSwap pool, causing a total loss of 253,702 USD.

Details of the Exploit

Hachiko is an ERC20 token trading on UniSwap. The token experienced a series of liquidity removal events by its deployer between August 15 and August 24, 2023. Initially, the deployer added 20 ETH as liquidity to the UniSwap pool.

The attacker then removed liquidity in 9 transactions, totaling 155.17 ETH, which equates to roughly 253,702 USD at current market rates. The stolen funds were distributed between multiple addresses in several transactions using DisperseApp.

Block Data Reference

Deployer Address:

https://etherscan.io/address/0x31e114d9…6aAAd2

Liquidity Adding Transaction:

https://etherscan.io/tx/0x08148c4a…64b6c9

Liquidity Removal Transactions:

https://etherscan.io/tx/0x326de0a3…3cd515

https://etherscan.io/tx/0x8d6e1c2d…2dea13

https://etherscan.io/tx/0x157b11ca…b6cfe9

Funds Distribution Transaction:

https://etherscan.io/tx/0xe8a41abb…f5a787

Incident Report

Protocol / Project Hachiko

Date of Incident August 24, 2023

Attack Technique Rugpull

Classification Token

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Dexs

Affected Token Hachiko

Official Website www.haiko.xyz/

Protocol Twitter/X @haikoxyz

Team Anonymous

Source Code Verified On-Chain

Market Context at Time of Hack

Token Categories

Memes Solana Ecosystem Doggone Doggerel Animal Memes

Protocol Links

What the Attacker Needed to Succeed

Understanding the prerequisites for this type of attack helps auditors identify protocols that are most at risk and helps developers build better defenses.

Technical Knowledge Deep understanding of rugpull and Solidity and EVM internals

Capital Required Seed capital to cover gas and initial position setup

On-Chain Access Ability to interact with smart contracts and deploy a custom exploit contract

Protocol Analysis Identification of the exploitable vulnerability in Hachiko's contract logic - root cause: token

Execution Speed Precise transaction ordering and timing to exploit the vulnerability within a single atomic block

Obfuscation Plan A strategy to launder and move stolen funds - typically through mixers, cross-chain bridges, or decentralized DEX swaps to resist tracing

What Auditors Should Check

Could this have been caught in audit? Hard to catch — private key / OpSec failures are outside smart contract audit scope

Audited by Audit Report 1 — still lost $254K. Prior audits don't guarantee safety, especially after post-audit code changes.

If you're auditing a protocol with similar architecture to Hachiko, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (August 2023).

Verify all logic paths related to Rugpull are guarded by proper access controls and input validation
Review privileged functions (owner, admin, governance) for potential abuse vectors - centralization risks should be documented and bounded with timelocks or multi-sigs

Master these auditing techniques with hands-on labs and real exploit scenarios in the Smart Contract Hacking course.

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Security Audit History

Audit Report 1 Report

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Rugpull
Root Cause Token
Year 2023

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