A whitehat hacker recovered 1,003 ETH stuck for nine years due to a smart contract flaw in HongCoin’s failed ICO.
An Ethereum developer recovered $2 million worth of ETH trapped in a 2016 initial coin offering after fixing a smart contract bug. The funds, frozen for nine years, were returned to 48 investors following the intervention.
HongCoin’s ICO contract was designed to refund investors if the project missed its funding goal, but a flaw prevented withdrawals. The recovery highlights rare but significant unlocks of dormant crypto assets, with on-chain records confirming the transaction.
ICOs were a common fundraising method during Ethereum’s early years, often relying on smart contracts to manage investor contributions and refunds.