Harmony’s ONE dives 40% after an attack appears to mint tokens equal to quarter of supply
Reported by CoinDesk · AI-assisted summary by ChikoCorp AI News Desk
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Summary
Harmony’s ONE token fell about 40% after an apparent exploit minted roughly 4 billion new tokens, increasing the supply by over 25%. The Harmony team confirmed the attack, is working with exchanges to freeze related funds, and is preparing a software patch and a possible blockchain rollback. This incident follows prior security issues, including a $100 million bridge hack in 2022 and a 2023 bug that minted about 146.3 million ONE.
Why it matters
The incident represents a significant inflation of Harmony’s token supply, undermining confidence in the network and impacting the token price. The team’s move to freeze funds and consider a rollback illustrates the challenge of reversing unauthorized token creation without disrupting legitimate transactions or violating blockchain immutability principles. This event also highlights ongoing security challenges faced by layer 1 blockchains.
Key context
Harmony is a layer 1 blockchain focused on DeFi protocols and marketplaces, with its native token ONE used for transactions and network security. Prior issues include a 2022 Horizon bridge hack attributed by the FBI to North Korea’s Lazarus Group and a 2023 bug causing unauthorized token creation. The current exploit differs in that tokens were minted directly on Harmony rather than stolen from a bridge. The team is considering a rollback, which would revert the blockchain state to before the attack but risks undoing legitimate transactions.
Key numbers and entities
The exploit minted approximately 4 billion ONE tokens, about 26% of the pre-incident supply of roughly 15 billion ONE. The 2023 bug created about 146.3 million ONE, and the 2022 bridge hack resulted in a $100 million loss. Exchanges and four wallet addresses linked to the current attack are involved in the response effort. Harmony is the affected blockchain project.
What remains unclear
Harmony has not yet explained how the attacker was able to mint the 4 billion tokens, confirmed the total amount unauthorizedly issued, or detailed how it will handle the tokens already in circulation. The outcome and timing of the software patch or the blockchain rollback remain uncertain. The source does not flag other open questions.