Crypto neobank Avici hacked, token crashes 49%

A crypto debit-card company called Avici got hacked on Friday. Attackers drained money straight out of individual customer accounts, not a shared company pool. Avici runs on the Solana blockchain and lets users spend crypto like cash through a card. Its AVICI token cratered as much as 49% within a day. More than 9,000 users may have been affected, according to a security researcher who tracked the exploit.

Nobody agrees on exactly how much was stolen. CoinDesk put the loss at $1.1 million. Cryptopolitan estimated somewhere between $600,000 and $1 million. That gap matters. It shows how murky crypto hacks stay, even days later. That's especially true at smaller platforms that get less scrutiny than big exchanges. Avici hasn't published its own official number. The attacker also hasn't been identified. This looks like a new financial product built fast, with security that lagged behind.

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Will Avici survive this, or become another cautionary tale? A 49% crash is a bad sign for user confidence either way. If the exact loss amount stays disputed, users may struggle to get made whole. Other "crypto neobanks" offering cashback and cards on stablecoins are watching closely too. A hack like this could slow the whole product category's growth. That's a bad time, right as it was starting to attract mainstream attention.