Cronos Network Halted Amid $75M Tectonic Exploit

Cronos halted its blockchain network after an exploit targeted decentralized lending protocol Tectonic, involving an estimated $75 million in losses. The attack, which occurred on Sunday, involved a 'Mango-market style' pump-and-borrow scheme, according to researcher Weilin Li.

Li explained that the attacker exploited Tectonic's 20% collateral factor and thin liquidity, pumping the governance token's price 100-fold within 20 minutes. The attacker then borrowed other assets using this artificially inflated price.

The exploit saw around $60 million of the stolen funds remain on the Cronos network at the time of writing, with an additional $8 million held in another attacker-controlled address, bringing Li's estimated loss to roughly $75 million.