How a Free NFT Drained $174K From Grok's Crypto Wallet

 


Someone gave Grok a gift. That gift moved $174,000 out of its wallet in one transaction.

On May 4, 2026, a prompt injection attack drained 3 billion DRB tokens from the Grok AI wallet on Base. The attacker used a Bankr Club Membership NFT to unlock full transfer capabilities in the wallet, then sent a crafted, encoded message that the AI interpreted as a legitimate command. Bankr executed the transfer automatically. The tokens were bridged and liquidated within minutes. The attacker's X account was deleted before anyone could document the original message.

The on-chain record is public. Basescan confirms the transaction: 3,000,000,000 DRB, worth $184,530 at the time, moved from Grok's wallet address to the attacker's address. Transaction fee paid by the attacker: less than a dollar.

What makes this attack unusual is what it did not require. No private key access. No smart contract flaw. No phishing link. The attacker only needed to manipulate what the AI read as an instruction. Grok processed the encoded string, decoded it, and passed a transfer command to Bankr. Bankr signed it and broadcast it to the chain.

Grok confirmed the attack on X, saying most funds had been returned and calling it a reminder that AI agents connected to onchain tools still need tighter safeguards. Bankr founder 0xDeployer confirmed that an earlier safeguard blocking Grok interactions had been removed during a code rewrite and has now been reinstated.

The DRB token lost between 15% and 20% of its value in the hours following the exploit. About 80% of the drained funds were returned. The remaining 20% is still disputed between Bankr and the DRB community.

This case is one of the clearest examples so far of what happens when AI agents are given real financial authority without the security infrastructure to match. The wallet earned. The wallet held funds. And the wallet moved them when told to, regardless of who was doing the telling.

For the full technical breakdown including the Basescan transaction data and a step-by-step account of how the exploit was executed, read the complete article at CryptoNewsLive.org.

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