SecondFi, a Cardano wallet generator, suffered an exploit this week that exposed a split narrative about what happened to user funds. Attackers initially stole 16 million ADA ($2.4 million). Then another 129 million ADA ($18.5 million) disappeared, and SecondFi claimed it had moved that sum itself as an emergency safeguard to a third-party custodian.
Charles Hoskinson, Cardano's founder, muddied the picture further. During an X talk yesterday, he relayed secondhand information from a Cardano governance Intersect meeting with SecondFi developers and Emurgo (which incubated SecondFi) that Emurgo does not know the identity of the person or entity who secured the $18.5 million. Hoskinson stressed the detail came via "Jer" at the meeting, making it thirdhand. He said his only concern was the return process, not who moved the funds.
Intersect, the Cardano governance organization, issued a demand for transparency. The group wants a full account of how the exploit occurred, what emergency measures were taken, and how the moved assets will be returned. Intersect also stressed that the Cardano blockchain itself was not compromised, only user-facing wallet infrastructure.
SecondFi's latest timeline offers no resolution. The firm said it took a final balance snapshot on Friday and estimates it will return lost assets within two weeks, contingent on reaching a "working solution" first. The firm continues to advise users not to move to new wallets, warning that independent actions "may significantly complicate the asset claims process."
The gap between SecondFi's claim that it moved the funds and Hoskinson's report that even Emurgo doesn't know who did it creates an obvious tension. Either SecondFi's emergency protocol operated without Emurgo's direct knowledge, or someone else moved the money and SecondFi is not disclosing that fact. A Protos inquiry to Emurgo remained unanswered at publication. The custody arrangement itself is opaque: SecondFi says an external accounting firm will audit the holdings, but no timeline for that audit has been announced.