Yesterday, an unusual event occurred when bitcoin (BTC) was sent to a vulnerable wallet that used the transaction ID (txid) from a coinbase block reward as its private key. Remarkably, the txid from block 924,982’s coinbase served directly as this wallet’s private key.
This triggered an immediate frenzy among automated bots.
One onlooker expressed curiosity: “I’m really interested in understanding why this happens. Some suggest small amounts are sent occasionally just to provoke bot activity, but what about these larger sums?”
Here, “bots fighting” describes software programs monitoring the mempool—a collection of unconfirmed BTC transactions—competing against each other.
When these bots detect funds arriving at a compromised wallet, they instantly launch replace-by-fee (RBF) transactions to outbid one another’s fees offered to miners for processing withdrawal requests.
The rapid escalation of RBF bids by competing bots creates quite a spectacle and even some amusement for observers.
A crypto enthusiast shared after witnessing similar behavior in November 2025: “Sometimes I send tiny amounts to compromised wallets just to watch how beautifully these automated RBF battles unfold.”
On that occasion, someone carelessly transferred $70,000 using a public key derived from a predictable private key.
The hobbyist added with excitement: “It happens instantly—these nodes never rest. The software can push RBF fees down almost to single satoshi levels; child transactions end up paying nearly 99.9% in fees—it’s fascinating.”
Further reading: Private Key Leak at 402bridge Leads To Rapid Draining of 227 Wallets
Bots Swiftly Seize All Funds Sent To Vulnerable Wallets
A private key is undeniably the most critical piece of information for securing BTC holdings. Any leak or exposure of data enabling hackers to reconstruct it often results in immediate theft.
Many widely-used wallets with non-random private keys rely on seed phrases containing easily guessable patterns such as repeating words like “password,” “bitcoin,” or multiple iterations of terms like “rocketman” or “abandon.”
Lacking true randomness and entropy makes such keys susceptible; malicious bots can quickly identify and drain any incoming deposits linked to their corresponding public keys.
The incident yesterday highlights that non-randomness isn’t limited only to weak seed phrases but can also stem from publicly accessible Bitcoin ledger details—for example, using block reward txids as keys.
If mechanical entropy isn’t properly introduced during private key generation, brute-force attacks become feasible and jeopardize fund security significantly.
Specifically relevant here is that hashing via txids does not provide adequate randomness or protection for safeguarding private keys. As demonstrated by recent events, miners and mempool watchers scan txids vigilantly for predictable patterns so they can swiftly broadcast theft transactions exploiting exposed secrets behind those keys.
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