Zano says an attacker exploited a vulnerability in its Gateway Address system to create 36.9 million unauthorized ZANO coins and about 1.8 quadrillion Freedom Dollar (fUSD) tokens before the privacy-focused blockchain was rolled back by roughly one month.
The incident exposed a problem that made the response especially difficult: the newly created coins were indistinguishable from legitimate ZANO. Because the network could not reliably identify and remove the unauthorized supply, Zano decided to erase about a month of blockchain history, including valid transactions. The project acknowledged that the measure could damage user trust but said it was necessary to eliminate the counterfeit supply.
According to Cointelegraph, Zano detailed the sequence in a post-mortem published Thursday. The attacker first used the Gateway Address vulnerability on Aug. 29, creating approximately 18.4 million ZANO in a single transaction. A second exploitation on Sept. 25 produced another 18.4 million ZANO, after which the same method was used to mint roughly 1.8 quadrillion fUSD.
How the exploit unfolded
The attacker paid 100 ZANO to register a Gateway Address, a fee valued at about $553 at the time cited in the report. The address was registered on Aug. 28, and the attacker then tested a fabricated asset before carrying out the first unauthorized ZANO creation the following day.
That initial mint remained undetected for nearly a month. Zano said the unauthorized coins appeared as ordinary transaction outputs, making them difficult to distinguish from genuine assets. Internal teams identified the activity after the second mint on Sept. 25.
Zano also said that AI-assisted testing, internal audits and bug bounty efforts had not detected the vulnerability before it was exploited.
Limited market circulation and recovery efforts
Zano marketing and growth head Quinten van Welzen told Cointelegraph that only a small fraction of the unauthorized coins reached the market because their movement was constrained by the liquidity available on exchanges.
The rollback nevertheless affected legitimate users whose transactions fell within the erased period. Zano said it is working to restore affected balances using its developer fund, contributions from team members’ personal funds and other committed contributions.
Recovery is expected to focus mainly on exchanges and payment services. Under the plan described by Zano, exchanges will replay withdrawals that were reversed by the rollback, while the project team will credit deposits affected by the change.
Moneyiar market picture
Moneyiar data recorded on Oct. 3, 2026, at 09:19 +03:30 put ZANO at $5.4717383766. The token was down 0.95% over 24 hours and 31.46% over seven days.
For comparison, Plasma (XPL) traded at $0.0927822691, down 4.19% in 24 hours and 21.28% over seven days, according to Moneyiar data recorded at 09:18 +03:30. Loaded Lions (LION) stood at $0.0015142325, down 2.74% over 24 hours and 0.12% over seven days, while Ore (ORE) was $114.3367036058, down 7.62% over 24 hours but up 38.03% over seven days.
