Infini’s $50 million stolen: the undercurrent of virtual cards and stablecoins

Here is the English translation of the text, with the specified terms retained as is: The only problem is, who can find the balance between compliance and profitability. Author: Seven Research, [Seven Research](https://x.com/0x_vigo) Cover: Photo by [Ales Nesetril](https://unsplash.com/@alesnesetril?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/person-holding-black-card-ex_p4AaBxbs?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash) Recently, hacking incidents have been frequent. The Bybit theft incident has not yet subsided, and now there is Infini, $50 million, gone without a trace. At the end of every Bull market, the familiar plot always emerges, just like the curtain is about to fall, and the actors on stage are grasping the last moments to steal the show. My impression of Infini is still stuck in the days when users on X were promoting their platform's referral invitation links. I briefly looked at it back then, it was similar to providing Crypto virtual card services, where users can top up Stablecoins and then use this card for consumption. This is simply handing a rope to people trapped in the wall. Like many domestic users, they don't have overseas credit cards or Visa cards, so how can they purchase some overseas services? Virtual credit cards are an option, especially in recent years as Stablecoins have become popular. There are quite a few projects that have targeted this market, providing virtual credit cards related to Stablecoins. They will let you do KYC with your domestic ID card, then provide an overseas billing address and virtual card number. You can then top up Stablecoins and make purchases, even binding to WeChat and Alipay for domestic consumption, thus quietly opening the door to a new world. I had used one before, using the Onekey Card service, which was done by the Onekey hardware wallet team. At the time, it was purely for using the OpenAI subscription service. It was quite handy back then, but the fees were a bit high, like 1% - 2% for topping up, and also fees for consumption. But since it was small-scale consumption, there was no choice but to endure and use it. However, later my Chatgpt account was blocked, probably because the virtual card triggered OpenAI's risk control. After that, I never subscribed to Chatgpt again, but occasionally use the virtual card to subscribe to other AI services, but the frequency is not very high. Later, Onekey Card started to withdraw users in late 2024 and stopped operating in January this year, with the Stablecoins also being withdrawn. I feel this business is quite profitable, you can imagine the high fees collected on both the inflow and outflow, there must be profits. As for why they stopped operating, I guess it's most likely because the upstream service had issues, or it was related to compliance problems, although the official explanation was optimizing the product line, which is just lip service, their hardware products don't make as much money as this business. Now there are many providers of such services, but either with an invitation code mechanism, or with registration thresholds. I got a SafePal virtual card recently, but haven't used it yet, maybe I don't need it for now. So when I saw the news about Infini, it was about it being hacked. The official message stated that they have found clues and controlled the relevant personnel, it was an inside job by a former smart contract engineer who left a backdoor. However, Infini's official attitude is quite confident. Regarding the amount stolen, they stated that they will fully compensate, saying that this is "small change" for them. Yes, $50 million, what is that in the Crypto circle? I do feel a bit emotional about this. Now without strong financial strength, one doesn't have the qualifications to start a business in the Crypto circle, otherwise, one hacking attack and the entire foundation is gone. I also briefly looked at Infini's introduction, and compared to other virtual credit cards, it has a service that may attract users, which is its Stablecoin wealth management service. That is, you can deposit Stablecoins and not only use the virtual card for consumption, but also earn wealth management returns, doesn't this sound familiar? It's just like a certain domestic platform. In fact, in the Crypto circle, there are many high-yield (relative to the traditional market) Stablecoin wealth management products. Ordinary exchanges and Stablecoins have yields of 5%-10% APR, and some DeFi projects may have even higher returns. Although I haven't used Infini's services, I can roughly guess that they have probably bundled these projects to provide a wrapper for users to earn returns. I think Infini's idea is very good, especially in a bear market, when users' Stablecoins have nowhere to go, they will look for some stable and decent-yielding products to utilize their Stablecoins, and the interest earned can be directly consumed. If it were me, I would also be tempted. Unfortunately, the internal management was not done well, there was an insider, and they probably didn't spend money to properly audit the smart contract. And the amount stolen is not small, so I guess people who want to use it later will think twice. I think the Stablecoin payment market is not saturated, especially the market combined with virtual credit cards, and there is still a lot of room. The problem now is compliance. This market fills the gap for third-party countries without overseas credit cards. Take China as an example, in the context of the Chatgpt craze, domestic developers and companies were rushing to send money to OpenAI, but got stuck at this point. Even if you eventually sent the money out through the virtual credit card channel, the other party didn't accept it and blocked your account. Isn't that frustrating?

I had Grok3 compile a list of service providers that combine Crypto and credit cards, and found that there are quite a few companies doing this, but many products have strict regional restrictions, so the threshold is still quite high for domestic users. I feel that the form Grok3 compiled this time is still not comprehensive enough, as Infini and Safepal were not included, and it may be that I did not explain it clearly enough. In any case, this market is still far from saturated, the only problem is who can find a balance between compliance and profitability, and make this business sustainable.

Finally, I had Grok3 compile the ins and outs of the Infini theft incident. For this type of product involving money, especially wealth management products, we still need to maintain a cautious attitude. For this type of credit card, occasionally charging a few tens for consumption, and storing large amounts, you also need to weigh it carefully, after all, where the money is placed determines whether you can sleep soundly.

Disclaimer: As a Bit chain information platform, the articles published on this site only represent the personal views of the authors and guests, and are not related to the position of Web3Caff. The information in the articles is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice or offer, and please abide by the relevant laws and regulations of your country or region.