Crypto
$75 Million Cronos Blockchain Exploit Shuts Down Entire Network
Cronos Blockchain Halted After $75 Million Exploit
An attacker manipulated the price of TONIC, the governance token of Tectonic lending protocol, by 100-fold in just 20 minutes. They then used the inflated tokens as collateral to borrow real assets.
The estimated loss is around $75 million and was facilitated by TONIC's low liquidity and trading volume of about $11,000 per day. The attack follows a similar exploit on another lending platform last week.
Cronos validators paused the blockchain to stop further damage, which stopped all other users from moving their funds. This approach allowed them to recover close to $470 million in a previous incident.