Initia halts blockchain after $2.7 million exploit

• Initia halted its layer-1 blockchain and connected rollups following a security exploit.
• On-chain analysis traced approximately $2.7 million in bridged assets to Ethereum.
• Preliminary findings linked the attack to a MoveVM vulnerability, while native INIT tokens were reportedly unaffected.

Initia (INIT) halted its blockchain and connected rollups after an attacker exploited a vulnerability to move approximately $2.7 million in assets.

The incident on 23 October disrupted the network while security teams, validators and exchanges investigated the breach.

Initia co-founder Ezaan Mangalji said preliminary findings pointed to a previously unknown MoveVM bug that enabled unauthorised token minting.

Blockchain researcher Spreek initially estimated that the attacker had cashed out approximately $2.6 million, with additional funds potentially in transit.

D2 Finance traced the exploit through cross-chain infrastructure, identifying withdrawals involving AUSD, Ether (ETH) and USD Coin (USDC) on Ethereum.

The analysis identified a vulnerability that allowed the attacker to create unbacked bridged tokens before converting them into assets on Ethereum.

Initia said its native INIT token was not affected by the suspected vulnerability, while its investigation continued.

Following the incident, INIT was trading down 2.0% at $0.1526.