How much was lost in the NanoCore hack?

The NanoCore hack resulted in $23K in losses on October 30, 2020.

What attack technique was used in the NanoCore exploit?

The NanoCore exploit utilized Abandoned. 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.

NanoCore Hack

TOTAL LOST $23K

Low Oct 30, 2020 Abandoned ethereum

Affected Chain ethereum Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #1871 By amount stolen

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Abandoned Target category

Incident Overview

Custom ERC20 Standard with malicious logic which allows blocking token transferring.

ETH for the initial liquidity was received from addLiquidity() function in the token contract, which probably was running from the front-end interface.

Initial liquidity 60ETH ($22,924.06) was added at:

https://etherscan.io/tx/0x731ae8f6…bd97c8

62.48 ETH is still in the Uniswap pair:

https://etherscan.io/address/0x0f347b63…93bc51

Project abandoned. LP tokens can't be used for removing liquidity by users.

Incident Report

Protocol / Project NanoCore

Date of Incident October 30, 2020

Affected Chain(s) ethereum

Attack Technique Abandoned

Classification Other

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Abandoned

Affected Token NANOCORE

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 abandoned and Solidity and EVM internals

Capital Required Seed capital to cover gas and initial position setup

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

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

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? Likely — with a thorough Abandoned audit checklist and test coverage

If you're auditing a protocol with similar architecture to NanoCore, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (October 2020).

Verify all logic paths related to Abandoned 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.

Free Trial

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Abandoned
Root Cause Other
Year 2020

Learn to Prevent the Next NanoCore

The NanoCore hack is one of many attacks that skilled auditors are trained to detect before deployment. Master real exploit patterns and defense techniques with hands-on Web3 security training.

Start Free Trial Browse Attack Library