- Initia restored its layer-1 chain and rollups on November 2 after a halt of more than nine days.
- The network was paused on October 23 after an exploit that minted and bridged out about $2.7 million.
- The restart applied an audited MoveVM patch and reinstated full backing for AUSD0, USDC.n and WETH.
Initia is back online per an early Monday announcement confirming that its layer-1 blockchain and rollups are processing transactions once again, writing that “the Initia L1 and rollups are now online and operational.”
The network restart ends an over-nine-day halt initiated by the project on October 23 after attackers exploited a flaw in its MoveVM, allowing them to withdraw about $2.7 million from the project.
Initia to be restored in phases
Initia did not turn on all its features at once, with cross-chain bridge and trading-platform transfers set to come back at some point on Monday, November 2. Withdrawals are also expected to be completed according to preset structures. Per reports, LayerZero OFT assets, WETH, and AUSD0 have a 24-hour processing window, while Noble USDC withdrawals are subject to hourly limits.
Notably, Initia has pointed out that it has restored full backing for AUSD0, USDC.n and WETH.
The restart came after the project ran a chain upgrade that would apply an independently audited MoveVM patch. The patch also added extra security measures and cut off forged balances still tied to the attacker from the network.
Initia did not roll back the network.
A Day 0 MoveVM flaw let the attacker mint tokens
Initia halted its layer-1 chain and every connected rollup at 15:41:30 UTC on October 23, following an alert first raised by onchain analyst Spreek.
Co-founder Ezaan Mangalji blamed the breach on a previously unknown “Day 0 bug related to Initia’s MoveVM on CosmosSDK” that allowed the attackers to create additional, unbacked tokens on the L1. The losses came from these unbacked token mints, with the native INIT token’s supply remaining unchanged throughout the episode.
The attacker minted 2 million unbacked AUSD tokens, then used cross-chain transfers to push roughly 1.4 million AUSD, 105 Ether and 1.08 million USDC to Ethereum. Cryptopolitan reported that the funds stolen in the hack came up to around $2.73 million.
Initia Foundation covered the losses
The Initia Foundation approved funding to make up the difference on the funds drained from the bridge at a 1:1 ratio of the unbacked assets moved from the chain.
The issuer of the AUSD stablecoin, Agora, helped contain the fallout, freezing addresses linked to the hacker.
South Korean exchange Upbit suspended INIT deposits and withdrawals after the incident, keeping trading open.
INIT dropped about 14% when the news broke, then recovered. By October 29, the token was reportedly up 53.21% over 24 hours at $0.272354, after spiking as high as $0.423 and pulling back.
INIT was trading around $0.1585, down more than 11% over the last 24 hours as of this report.
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FAQs
How much did the Initia attacker steal?
The attacker minted unbacked tokens and bridged out roughly $2.7 million, which was consolidated into about 1,135.5 ETH worth around $2.73 million.
Was the native INIT token affected by the exploit?
No. Co-founder Ezaan Mangalji said the Day 0 MoveVM bug let the attacker mint extra tokens on the L1 but did not apply to native INIT.
When did Initia come back online?
Initia confirmed its layer-1 network and rollups were back online on Monday, November 2, 2026, the date it had targeted, with cross-chain and trading transfers resuming later that day.
Disclaimer. The information provided is not trading advice. Cryptopolitan.com holds no liability for any investments made based on the information provided on this page. We strongly recommend independent research and/or consultation with a qualified professional before making any investment decisions.
Hannah Collymore
Hannah is a writer and editor with nearly a decade of blog writing and event reporting experience in the crypto space. At Cryptopolitan, Hannah contributes to the news page, reporting and analyzing the latest developments in DeFi, RWA, crypto regulation, AI and frontier tech industries. She graduated from Arcadia university with a degree in Business Administration.
