Humanity Protocol Hit by Private-Key Breach; H Token Sinks 85% in 12 Hours

CoinMarketCap reports that decentralized identity project Humanity Protocol has suffered a major security breach. The team said a private key linked to a member of the Humanity Foundation was compromised, allowing an attacker to steal more than $30 million in H tokens and sparking an immediate selloff. Founder and CEO Terence Kwok confirmed the incident and urged users not to interact with the protocol's cross-chain bridge or liquidity pools until the investigation is completed. The team said it is working with security firms to identify the attack vector and mitigate follow-on risks. Market data shows H plunged from roughly $0.70 to around $0.08 within 12 hours, a drop of about 85%. The continued movement of stolen tokens into the market added to selling pressure. On-chain investigator Specter said the attack may still be in progress, and some wallets tied to or previously interacting with Humanity Protocol could also be impacted. Specter estimates the attacker has withdrawn up to about $30 million worth of H tokens from affected wallets. Arkham Intelligence tracking indicates the attacker has been routing the stolen assets through decentralized exchanges, including Kyber Network and PancakeSwap. On-chain swaps and sales have further weighed on H's price. Humanity Protocol is a decentralized identity project built on a zkEVM blockchain, focusing on privacy-preserving palm-print biometric verification. It aims to provide digital identity authentication without exposing sensitive user data. The incident adds to a growing list of 2026 crypto losses tied to private-key exposure. Reports also cite a compromise involving keys associated with Drift Protocol's governance security committee, with losses estimated at about $280 million. Other projects named in this year's wallet or private-key incidents include Step Finance, Resolv, Volo Vault, Echo Bridge, Bankr, Polymarket, StablR, Stake DAO, Gravity Bridge, and Alephium Bridge. Separately, CertiK data shows wallet and private-key breaches were the second most costly attack category in May, totaling roughly $13.7 million in losses.