Cronos halts network after estimated $75 million Tectonic exploit

Cronos halted its blockchain after identifying an exploit targeting decentralized lending protocol Tectonic. The exploit involved an estimated $75 million, most of which remained on the Cronos network at publication. Tectonic warned users not to interact with the protocol during its investigation. Neither project had confirmed the cause or loss. No restart timeline had been announced at publication. Researcher Weilin Li said the attacker exploited TONIC's 20% collateral factor and thin liquidity. The attacker increased TONIC's price 100-fold within 20 minutes before borrowing other assets, according to Li. Li initially estimated that $66 million was affected. He said the attacker bridged about $6 million to Ethereum before the halt. Li later identified another attacker-controlled address holding about $8 million. He then estimated the loss at roughly $75 million. Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek said the company's app and exchange were unaffected and operating normally. Marszalek said funds held there were safe. Cronos and Tectonic had not said whether they would restrict the attacker's addresses. They had not said whether they would recover the assets. They had not said whether they would compensate affected users.