TL;DR
- 79thVault recovered 15,000 BNB, worth approximately $11.5 million at the time of the reported recovery, after its 79AU liquidity pool was drained on October 7.
- The returned funds represent roughly 92% of the 16,249 BNB extracted during the attack, which exposed weaknesses in the project’s account permission management.
- The team plans to restore the recovered BNB to its liquidity pool and burn the resulting liquidity provider tokens, while other recent incidents highlight both the potential and limitations of recovering stolen crypto assets.
79thVault has recovered 15,000 BNB from the attacker who drained its 79AU liquidity pool on October 7, offering a rare positive outcome in decentralized finance security. The return represents approximately 92% of the 16,249 BNB taken during the exploit, providing the project with a substantial portion of its lost assets. The recovery also highlights how on-chain transparency can help teams trace stolen funds and communicate directly with suspected attackers.
🚨 79VAULT Recovery Update
We have successfully recovered 15,000 BNB from the attacker involved in the recent exploit.The recovered assets will be added back to the liquidity pool, with the resulting LP tokens permanently burned.
🔗 On-chain transaction of the funds returned:… pic.twitter.com/oKdcKgDCkj
— 79th Vault (@79thVault) October 9, 2026
How The 79thVault Hacker Returned 15,000 BNB
The 79thVault team confirmed the recovery on X and shared an on-chain transaction associated with the returned BNB. According to the project’s announcement, the team intends to return the recovered funds to the liquidity pool and permanently burn the resulting LP tokens, a measure designed to prevent those tokens from circulating or being used to claim the corresponding liquidity.
The attack began on October 7, when an operator wallet withdrew approximately 2.01 million 79AU tokens from the project’s PancakeSwap pool. The attacker executed seven transactions between 07:25 and 08:25 UTC before selling the tokens through roughly 95 trades.
Those sales generated approximately 16,249 BNB, valued at around $12.5 million based on the reported figures. Meanwhile, the pool’s USDT reserves fell from approximately $15.2 million to $3.9 million, significantly reducing the liquidity available to traders.
In an October 8 statement, 79thVault attributed the incident to weaknesses in account permission management. Reports indicated that the 79AU contract contained an OPERATOR_ROLE function capable of moving tokens from the pool and modifying its reserves. The relevant permission was subsequently revoked.
Crypto Recovery Cases Show Both Opportunity And Limits
The 79thVault recovery follows another recent case involving NEAR Intents, which received a full refund of approximately $3.8 million after its attacker returned the stolen funds. NEAR Intents general manager Alex Shevchenko had publicly identified wallet addresses associated with the incident and issued a 48-hour ultimatum, demonstrating how transparent blockchain records can support recovery efforts.
However, not every crypto exploit ends with a refund. Bitget CEO Gracy Chen expressed limited optimism about recovering approximately $388 million reportedly stolen in a separate breach. She pointed to the February 2025 Bybit attack, in which only a small portion of the roughly $1.5 billion stolen was frozen.
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