Cosmos Hub Halted for 24 Hours Amid Neutron Governance Attack

A governance attack on Neutron, a Cosmos-ecosystem chain, led to a 24-hour halt of block production on Cosmos Hub. The attacker passed a malicious 'AI Agent Takeover' proposal, allowing them to take control of two Neutron-based applications and drain contracts of assets worth $4.9 million and $4.4 million.

The attack cost the attacker just $20,199 to acquire the NTRN tokens needed to pass the vote. In response, Neutron was paused, trapping an estimated $5 million worth of assets on Cosmos Hub. Validators also halted block production, securing a further 1.2 million ATOM (over $2.2 million) held in the attacker's address.

The hacker's Ethereum address holds $1.8 million, with a further transaction worth over $300,000 pending on THORChain, though this is set to be refunded to the Cosmos Hub address upon restart. The scheduled restart will include a queued refund of the trapped ATOM balance.