Duelbits Goes Offline After $7M Hot Wallet Hack

Crypto casino and sportsbook Duelbits has taken its website offline after a hack resulted in approximately $7 million being removed from the operator's hot wallets on September 24.

Duelbits co-founder Joe Dixon confirmed the approximate loss on X and said the company was investigating how the breach occurred. He also said user funds were safe and that the platform would remain offline while the investigation continued and its hot wallets were replenished.

Blockchain researchers separately tracked suspicious transfers across several networks during the incident.

PeckShield Tracked $4.3 Million Across Ethereum and BNB Chain

Blockchain security company PeckShield initially identified approximately $4.3 million in suspicious outflows from Duelbits-linked wallets on Ethereum and BNB Chain.

The transfers included 836 ETH worth about $2.23 million, 1.146 million USDT, 209 BNB, 96,805 USDC, 12.398 billion SHIB and 31,515 DAI. PeckShield said the attacker subsequently exchanged most of the assets for approximately 1,587.87 ETH, worth around $4.2 million at the time, and about 31,500 DAI.

The $4.3 million identified by PeckShield does not represent the full amount later confirmed by Duelbits.

Scam Sniffer reported additional suspicious transfers involving Duelbits hot wallets on Ethereum, BNB Chain and Tron, followed by a loss of 8.1 BTC from a Bitcoin hot wallet. CoinDesk reported that the stolen assets were eventually consolidated into a single Ethereum address holding around 2,234 ETH, valued at approximately $6 million at the time of its report.

The funds in that address had not moved further when CoinDesk published its analysis.

Cause of Duelbits Hack Remains Under Investigation

Scam Sniffer said the transaction pattern suggested a possible private key compromise, but Duelbits had not publicly confirmed the cause of the breach at the time of the initial investigation.

Hot wallets remain connected to online systems so operators can process cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals quickly. That accessibility also makes control of wallet credentials and transaction infrastructure a significant security consideration for crypto gambling businesses.

Duelbits said it took the website offline as a precaution while investigating the incident. The operator has maintained that customer balances were not affected.

Duelbits Rebuilds Deposit and Withdrawal Servers

In a subsequent update, Dixon said Duelbits had identified what happened and planned to publish an official statement within 24 hours.

He estimated that the site could return within approximately 15 hours and said the company was rebuilding its deposit and withdrawal servers before restoring operations.

Duelbits' immediate recovery plan includes completing the investigation, replenishing its hot wallets and bringing the platform back online. Dixon has also referenced the planned launch of Duelbits 2.0 as part of the company's next steps.

The operator had not yet publicly detailed the confirmed attack method or provided a complete breakdown of the approximately $7 million loss across each blockchain at the time of its initial statements.