Zano Blockchain Compromised by Major Bug, $200M in Illicit Tokens Created

A major bug in Zano's blockchain allowed an attacker to mint nearly $200 million worth of illicit tokens, prompting a 30-day rewind of the network.

The flaw was introduced with Hard Fork 6 and allowed an attacker to create coins that were accepted as genuine by the network. The first real exploit occurred on Aug. 29, when roughly 18.4 million ZANO were minted in a single transaction, valued at around $102 million.

However, the attack went undetected for nearly a month due to Zano's internal privacy system, which made it difficult to distinguish between legitimate and counterfeit coins. It wasn't until Sept. 25 that the team sounded the alarm and identified the affected balances.