How much was lost in the VinDAX hack?

The VinDAX hack resulted in $500K in losses on November 08, 2019.

What attack technique was used in the VinDAX exploit?

The VinDAX exploit utilized Other. 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.

VinDAX Hack

TOTAL LOST $500K

Low Nov 08, 2019 Other

Affected Chain 2019 Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #1003 By amount stolen

Protocol Type Indexes Target category

Incident Overview

VinDAX, a little-known cryptocurrency exchange in Vietnam, has been hacked, resulting in the loss of "half a million USD" in cryptocurrencies.

VinDAX has lost funds via 23 cryptocurrencies. The admin declined to share further information but said: "We have made a full recovery from this attack," without providing details.

Incident Report

Protocol / Project VinDAX

Date of Incident November 08, 2019

Attack Technique Other

Classification CeFi

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Indexes

Official Website vindax.com/

Protocol Twitter/X @VinDAXOfficial

Team Anonymous

Source Code Unverified

Market Context at Time of Hack

Token Categories

Mineable

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 other 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 VinDAX's contract logic - root cause: cefi

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 Other audit checklist and test coverage

If you're auditing a protocol with similar architecture to VinDAX, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (November 2019).

Verify all logic paths related to Other 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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Sources & References

01
Source 1 https://bitcoinexchangeguide.com/vietnam-crypto-exchange-vindax-…

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Other
Root Cause CeFi
Year 2019

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