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TUSD refutes claims of association with TEURO amid rumors of private key compromise

source-logo  cryptoslate.com 23 October 2023 14:15, UTC

TrueUSD (TUSD) has distanced itself from speculations that an address associated with it was involved in the issuance of TrueEURO (TEURO), a purported Euro-based stablecoin.

In an Oct. 23 post on X (formerly Twitter), the stablecoin provider stated that the address 0x7bA7EF06A2621267f063eF2DB2d482D5B507D8b3 “has no permissions” over its smart contract as it was solely designated for token deployment. Additionally, TUSD noted that its team neither owns nor controls the address.

It added:

“We want to clarify that this address has NO permissions over TUSD smart contracts; it was exclusively designated for token deployment. It holds NO authority over current TUSD contracts or user token assets and has NO impact on TUSD’s operations.”

TUSD is one of the largest stablecoins by market capitalization, with a circulating supply of more than 3 billion coins, according to CryptoSlate’s data. The stablecoin has faced significant headwinds recently over its exposure to the bankrupt crypto custodial firm Prime Trust.

Private key leak?

On-chain data shows that TUSD’s deployer address was used to create TEURO on Oct. 13.

The newly created stablecoin generated much attention from the crypto community after TUSD distanced itself from the project. While the community pointed out that the TEURO was made via TUSD’s deployer address, the project advised investors to be cautious before investing in newly deployed contracts.

This statement drew speculations about whether TUSD’s deployer address private key was compromised.

Blockchain Intelligence firm ChainArgos surmised that it was “hard to believe [TUSD]had nothing to do with [TEURO] given that the TrueUSD deployer deployed the token… unless someone outside the organization has stolen the keys to that account.”

Crypto investigator ZachXBT also corroborated this view, saying that TrueUSD’s denial of TEURO only meant its private key was compromised. The on-chain detective added that the same private key was also used to create a TrueChineseYuan contract.

On its part, TUSD confirmed that its former banking and customer onboarding partner, TrueCoin, suffered a security breach on Oct. 16.

At the time, the project claimed some of its users’ information and transaction history data might have been exposed. However, it insisted that its system and reserves were unaffected by the breach.

Meanwhile, ChainArgos added that the breach might have a more far-reaching effect, saying:

It’s at least plausible that $TUSD‘s reserves – the bank accounts – have been stolen by someone armed with the corporate private keys.”

cryptoslate.com