Echo Protocol Says $816,000 Lost After Admin Key Compromised in Monad eBTC Deployment

Echo Protocol said about $816,000 in assets was lost after an administrator key was compromised during the deployment of eBTC on Monad.

Crypto outlet BlockBeats reported on May 19 that Echo Protocol disclosed the unauthorized activity in an official statement, saying it led to abnormal token minting and fund losses on the Monad network.

An initial investigation found the incident was caused by an attack on an administrator key tied to the Monad deployment.

Echo Protocol said the Monad network itself was not affected and continues to operate normally, stressing that the incident was not caused by a problem with the chain. It also said it had regained control of the administrator key and burned 955 eBTC that remained in the attacker's possession.

The project added that the incident appears to have been limited to the Monad deployment so far, with no evidence that Aptos was affected.

Echo Protocol said Aptos-based aBTC and Monad-based eBTC are separate assets and do not support bridging between each other. Current exposure related to Aptos is about $71,000.

As an additional security measure, the project said it has temporarily suspended cross-chain functions tied to the Monad deployment and is upgrading its EVM bridge contract and permission control system.

It also urged users not to interact with compensation, refund or recovery pages that are not posted through official channels.