Cronos Blockchain Halted After $75M Attack Exploits Thin Liquidity

The Cronos blockchain was shut down on Sunday after an attacker exploited Tectonic, its largest lending platform, in a $75 million attack.

Tectonic's design allowed users to deposit crypto and borrow other assets against posted collateral, using the platform's own token TONIC as one of those options.

The attacker took advantage of TONIC's thin liquidity, which was only about $1.34 million, to inflate its price 100-fold in just 20 minutes, allowing them to deposit the inflated tokens into Tectonic and borrow real assets against them.

Cronos halted its blockchain to contain the exploit, freezing all user positions and preventing most stolen funds from leaving the network.