After being attacked by the Tectonic ecological lending protocol, the Cronos Network has been suspended from operation. The project team stated that they are conducting an investigation and reminded users not to interact with the protocol until safety is confirmed. The extent of the loss has not yet been officially confirmed by the Tectonic, but preliminary estimates from on-chain analysis suggest it to be around 119.5 million US dollars.
Approximately $119.5 million was transferred out within 65 minutes.
According to on-chain analysis based on the Cronos archived nodes, approximately $119.5 million was withdrawn from the relevant lending pools within about 65 minutes. In the affected markets, the remaining assets amounted to only about $1.73 million.
Analysis also shows that this incident triggered 752 liquidations, involving the seizure of approximately $8.71 million in assets from other users, while leaving behind about $32.6 million in bad debts. The Tectonic party has not yet announced the final loss figures.
The attack is suspected to have utilized the abnormal price increase of TONIC.
On-chain analysis shows that the attacker first deposited 3,091 TONIC, and then borrowed 3,697 TONIC in the same block. Approximately 14 seconds later, the price of TONIC increased by 6.46 times within a single block.
After the value of the collateral was rapidly inflated, the attackers were able to borrow approximately $125.6 million in assets. The assets that were transferred included:
- 54.32 million US dollars USDC
- $44.87 million USDT
- 95.36 WBTC, 1861 WETH
On-chain data shows that approximately $75.7 million was transferred to external wallets, while another $43.7 million flowed to a contract address.
Cronos Suspension of internet services and joint investigation
Cronos Network subsequently confirmed that a vulnerability exploitation occurred with Tectonic, and announced a suspension of network operations. The project team stated that they are working together with the security team of Crypto.com to investigate the issue.
The Chief Executive Officer stated that the App of Crypto.com and the exchange have not been affected, and the safety of customer funds is assured. The figure of $119.5 million widely cited by the outside world is still an estimated value on the chain and not the final loss that has been confirmed by Tectonic.
