MAPO token's value dropped 96% after a hack exploited a vulnerability in the Butter Network bridge, minting a quadrillion new tokens.
The value of the Map Protocol's native token, MAPO, plummeted by 96% after a significant vulnerability was exploited in the Butter Network cross-chain bridge.
Hackers took advantage of a flaw in a Solidity smart contract, minting an astonishing quadrillion new tokens. This breach involved deceiving the Butter Bridge V3.1 (OmniServiceProxy) into creating approximately 1 quadrillion MAPO tokens, vastly exceeding the legitimate supply of around 208 million.
As a result, MAPO's price fell to $0.00009 shortly after the incident, although it has since recovered to $0.002. The hacker managed to liquidate about a billion tokens via Uniswap liquidity pools, earning around 52 ETH, equivalent to approximately $110,000. Experts from Blockaid noted that nearly a trillion MAPO tokens still reside in the hacker's wallet, threatening liquidity on other exchanges.
The vulnerability stemmed from a defect in the message verification process, allowing the hacker to send a counterfeit transaction replay request that the bridge mistakenly accepted as legitimate. Importantly, the project's keys were not compromised during this attack.
In response, the Map Protocol team has halted the mainnet and is working on migrating to a new contract. They plan to take a snapshot of user balances for distributing new assets, while tokens held by the hacker will be nullified.
Furthermore, the conversion service between MAPO tokens on the original ERC20 contract across the BSC and Ethereum networks has been suspended, and all relevant exchanges have been informed.
Meanwhile, the Butter Network assured users that their funds remain secure and that an investigation is underway, expected to conclude within 12 hours.
Map Protocol aims to facilitate asset exchanges across various networks, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB Chain, TRON, and Solana. This incident comes amid a troubling trend in the crypto industry, with April recording over 20 hacks resulting in losses exceeding $651 million.
