Initia stopped its main network and the rollups built on it at 3:41 pm UTC on October 23. An attacker had used a bug to create tokens out of nothing, then moved about $2.6 million in value to Ethereum. While the chain is halted, nobody holding anything on Initia can move it, and there's no restart date yet.

Key facts

  • Who: Initia, a layer-1 blockchain with its own network of rollups
  • What: A bug in Initia's MoveVM let an attacker mint unbacked tokens, including 2 million AUSD, and bridge value to Ethereum; the team says native INIT can't be minted this way
  • When: Network halted October 23, 2026, 3:41 pm UTC
  • How much: About $2.6 million to $2.7 million; no final figure from Initia yet
  • Source: Initia's statement on X and co-founder Ezaan Mangalji, reported by Cointelegraph

What happened

Initia's co-founder Ezaan Mangalji called it a "Day 0 bug" in the system that runs Initia's smart contracts. It let the attacker mint extra tokens on the main chain. DeFi platform D2 Finance says 2 million AUSD were created with nothing backing them. The attacker then moved about 1.4 million AUSD, 105 ETH and 1.08 million USDC across to Ethereum. Mangalji says the bug doesn't apply to native INIT tokens. Upbit and KuCoin have suspended INIT deposits and withdrawals.

What we don't know

There's no final loss figure, no complete explanation and no word yet on whether anyone will be made whole. When the chain restarts, the team may roll back or freeze the minted tokens, or it may not. Until Initia says so, anyone telling you how this ends is guessing. Funds that have already crossed to Ethereum are much harder to stop. Our explainer on why cross-chain bridges get hacked shows why that last hop matters.

What to watch for

  • Fake "Initia recovery", "claim your compensation" or "migrate before the restart" sites. They'll spread fastest in the gap before the team says anything official.
  • Any site asking you to connect a wallet or sign a transaction "to protect funds during the halt". Nothing can move on a halted chain anyway. A signature request on another chain is a drainer.
  • Our 2-minute scam check flags both.

The open questions are the restart date, the final loss and whether the minted tokens get frozen or rolled back. Initia's own account is where those answers will land first.

Sources: Cointelegraph, Crypto Adventure, CryptoTicker, The Crypto Times.