Cronos Halts Blockchain Amid $75M Tectonic Exploit

Cronos has halted its blockchain after an exploit was detected in Tectonic, the network's largest lending protocol. The attack is estimated to have affected around $75 million in assets, with tens of millions of dollars in unauthorized borrowing identified.

The exploit centered on TONIC, Tectonic's governance token, which saw a 100-fold price increase within about 20 minutes before the inflated tokens were used as collateral to borrow more liquid assets. The money-market parameters assigned TONIC a 20% collateral factor, allowing borrowers to draw loans worth up to one-fifth of its accepted collateral value.

Tectonic warned users not to interact with the protocol until it confirms operations are safe, and the $75 million figure remains preliminary pending final accounting. Only about $6 million was bridged to Ethereum before Cronos stopped producing blocks, leaving most exploit-linked assets stranded on the network.