Initia, a Layer 1 blockchain and interwoven modular roll-up community, suffered a significant safety incident on twenty third October. An attacker allegedly exploited a vulnerability in its blockchain to create tokens with out permission and withdraw actual property from cross-chain bridges.
According to the investigation, the assault started at 14:59:26 UTC when the exploiter used a single signed transaction to mint 2 million AUSD tokens out of skinny air on Initia.
The transaction reportedly consumed 135,888 fuel and known as a ‘Move’ operate straight, with out requiring a cross-chain bridge message. So, as a substitute of breaking the bridge’s safety verification course of straight, the attacker hacked a vulnerability within the token-minting mechanism.
All about Initia’s safety incident
The attacker didn’t cease there although. Instead, they exploited cross-chain infrastructure to transform these unauthorized tokens into actual property on Ethereum [ETH]. So, roughly 153 seconds after the preliminary mint, a legitimate LayerZero message enabled the discharge of 1.4 million AUSD from the Ethereum-side adapter.
At the identical time, the attacker additionally withdrew 105 ETH from the native-ETH adapter and obtained 1.08 million USDC by way of Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP). According to researchers, the attacker transformed the funds into Ethereum by way of decentralized buying and selling companies, together with 1inch and 0x.
Here, inside roughly 7 minutes of the preliminary mint, round $2.65 million had reached Ethereum. The consolidated funds later amounted to 1,135.52 ETH, price roughly $2.73 million, held in a newly created pockets.
This gave the impression to be similar to September’s Liquid Network incident, the place a software program bug enabled the creation of unauthorized L-BTC and the withdrawal of actual Bitcoin.
As anticipated, the incident compelled Initia to halt its L1 blockchain and roll-ups. And but, regardless of this rollercoaster, Initia’s token INIT was buying and selling at $0.1484 at press time after a hike of 11.7% within the final 24 hours.
2026 has to date being a tough 12 months for safety incidents like these. In reality, AMBCrypto’s recent report discovered that crypto safety losses surged by 55% to $1.18 billion in Q3 2026, whereas reported incidents jumped from 67 to 107.
Final Summary
- Transaction reportedly consumed 135,888 fuel and known as a ‘Move’ operate straight, with out requiring a cross-chain bridge message.
- This was similar to September’s Liquid Network incident, the place a software program bug enabled the creation of unauthorized L-BTC and the withdrawal of actual Bitcoin.
