Neutron Governance Vote Hijacked; $4.4M Drained in Cosmos Exploit
AI Market Summary
A manipulated emergency governance vote on Cosmos-linked Neutron enabled an attacker to seize control of 11 contracts and steal ~$4.4M, highlighting governance and smart-contract security risk. Cosmos Hub validators responded by coordinating a ~25-hour chain halt and, on restart, moved ~1.23M ATOM from the attacker-controlled wallet to a recovery address for restitution. The incident raises confidence and operational-risk concerns across Cosmos ecosystem assets.
Impact level
● High
Affected assets
ATOM/USDT-8.12%
AI Insight · ATOM/USDTAI Insight
▼ Bearish
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BlockBeats reported that on Sept. 24, an emergency governance proposal on Neutron, a protocol in the Cosmos ecosystem, was manipulated by an attacker. The attacker reportedly spent about $20,199 in USDC to buy NTRN tokens and, 12 minutes before voting closed, staked 31.6 million NTRN—pushing the proposal to pass with 82% support.
After the vote, the attacker allegedly took control of 11 contracts, migrated them to malicious code, and stole roughly $4.4 million in assets.
In an effort to recover funds, Cosmos Hub validators coordinated a chain halt lasting 24 hours and 48 minutes. During the restart, they transferred about 1.23 million ATOM from the attacker's wallet to a new address, with plans to return the tokens to the original holders, according to The Defiant.
