Cronos Network Halted After Tectonic Hack Drains Estimated $75M

A major crypto hack has affected decentralized lending protocol Tectonic on the Cronos network, resulting in an estimated loss of $75 million. The attacker exploited TONIC, Tectonic's governance token, which carried a 20% collateral factor, to inflate its price 100-fold within 20 minutes.

The attacker then deposited inflated tokens and borrowed other assets from Tectonic, executing one transaction involving around $120 million, according to estimates. Researcher Weilin Li initially estimated the loss at $66 million but later increased it to $75 million after discovering additional assets on a Cronos address.

Despite the hack, Crypto.com's application and exchange remained operational during the Cronos Network halt. The company's CEO, Kris Marszalek, stated that their security team was assisting in the investigation into Tectonic.