Initia halted its blockchain and every rollup on it at 15:41:30 UTC on Oct. 23, 2026, citing a security incident3. Security researcher Spreek raised the alarm on X 14 minutes earlier and estimated the attacker had cashed out $2.6 million2. Co-founder Ezaan Mangalji, who goes by Zon, later said a bug let the attacker mint tokens and move out about $2.7 million4. In an update at 17:31 UTC, The Block reported that Initia had yet to confirm the amount lost1.
The First Alarm Came From a Researcher on X
Spreek posted at 15:27 UTC, while funds were still moving2. “Initia chain hacked and a bunch of tokens infiniminted. Hacker has cashed out $2.6m thus far with more in flight,” Spreek wrote. Infiniminted is crypto slang for minting a token in endless supply. Cointelegraph called Spreek the blockchain security researcher who "first flagged the exploit"5.
Initia's own statement on X, posted at 16:00 UTC, fixed the halt at 15:41:30 UTC3. “Our team is actively investigating the situation and working to establish the full scope of any impact with security teams, validators, and exchanges,” Initia said. That notice came 33 minutes after Spreek's post. “Please remain cautious of unofficial links, messages, or claims circulating during this time,” it closed.
Zon Traced the Attack to Initia's Move Code
The co-founder gave the team's first account of the cause at 16:22 UTC4. He gave it as an early finding, "to the best of our knowledge so far," in his words. Zon tied the bug to MoveVM, the part of Initia's software that runs programs written in the Move language. The bug “allowed the exploiter to mint additional tokens on the Initia L1 but does not apply to native INIT tokens,” he wrote. INIT is Initia's own token.
Mangalji then gave a number. He wrote that “the attacker was able to mint and bridge out ~$2.7m worth of AUSD, ETH, and USDC before the chain was paused”4. To bridge out is to move tokens from one blockchain to another, here off Initia.
Two Early Counts, and Initia Had Yet to Confirm a Loss
The two men measured different things. Spreek counted what the attacker had "cashed out," with more "in flight"2. Zon counted what the attacker could "mint and bridge out" before the halt4. His figure runs about $100,000 above Spreek's, and both came within an hour of each other.
Two Early Counts of Initia's Oct. 23, 2026 Hack: $2.6 Million and About $2.7 Million
Estimated value the attacker took, in U.S. dollars, as each person posted it on X
- Zon, 16:22 UTC: $2,700,000
- Spreek, 15:27 UTC: $2,600,000
Read the chart as a table
| Item | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Spreek, 15:27 UTC | $2,600,000 | Cashed out thus far, with more in flight, Spreek wrote |
| Zon, 16:22 UTC | $2,700,000 | Minted and moved out before the halt, Initia's co-founder wrote |
Three reports on Oct. 23 said the loss was still unconfirmed. The Block's report, updated at 17:31 UTC, said Initia "has yet to confirm the amount lost in the incident"1. Cointelegraph went further: “Initia has not publicly confirmed the estimated losses or the precise cause of the exploit”5. At 20:54 UTC, crypto.news described the circulating figures this way: “They have not been established as a final, reconciled total of losses”6.
So the $2.6 million figure is Spreek's count. He made it while money was still moving, and he said so in the same post2.
D2 Finance Traced the Tokens, and Agora Disputed It
Cointelegraph reported that DeFi platform D2 Finance traced where the tokens went5. D2 Finance said the attacker minted 2 million AUSD, more tokens than their backing covered. By the firm's count, about 1.4 million AUSD, 105 ETH and 1.08 million USDC then moved to Ethereum. D2 Finance said those assets ended up in one Ethereum wallet holding about 1,135.5 ETH.
Agora issues AUSD and describes it as "a fully reserved dollar stablecoin"10. In crypto.news's account, the company disputed D2 Finance: “Agora said the incident involved a third-party product using AUSD and that it had no smart contracts deployed on Initia”6. D2 Finance's figures, the same report said, "remain the platform's account of the transactions."
That leaves the AUSD figure as one platform's reading, contested by the token's own issuer.
Korean Exchanges Paused INIT Transfers
Upbit and Bithumb, two South Korean exchanges, suspended INIT deposits and withdrawals, PANews reported on Oct. 24, 20267. Both issued an investment warning for the token. Upbit said on Oct. 24 that it had confirmed a suspected security issue on the Initia chain and that INIT's price swings may grow. Holders, the notice said, should trade with care.
Who Built Initia, and Who Paid for It
TechCrunch profiled Initia on Feb. 27, 2024, when the startup had just raised a $7.5 million seed round8. Delphi Ventures and HackVC led it, and Nascent, Figment Capital, Big Brain and A.Capital joined. Initia was headquartered in Singapore, with a team of 20 people around the world.
In 2022, Mangalji and co-founder Stan Liu first set out to build a DeFi project together8. Liu and Mangalji paused it after the FTX collapse and turned to blockchain infrastructure. Their pitch was one version of each asset across many chains. “One of the great parts about Initia is across the multichain world all assets are fungible, such that in this example there would only be one type of USDC across potentially thousands of app-specific blockchains,” Mangalji told TechCrunch.
Liu described the goal in plainer terms. “I think the ultimate goal is to have thousands and tens of thousands of applications being built on crypto, in web3, as well as specifically on Initia, without knowing that this is a crypto project,” Liu said.
Read against that pitch, the Oct. 23 attack turned on moving assets between chains. Zon's own figure counts tokens the attacker could "mint and bridge out" of Initia4.
Initia Raised $7.5 Million in 2024, Then Halted Its Chain in 2026
Dated events from Initia's 2024 seed round to its Oct. 23, 2026 hack and the exchange pauses
Sources: X (Initia, @initia) [3]; PANews [7]; TechCrunch [8].
Read the chart as a table
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Feb. 27, 2024 | Delphi Ventures, HackVC lead seed round. TechCrunch reported the $7.5 million round, which also drew Nascent, Figment Capital, Big Brain and A.Capital. |
| Oct. 23, 2026 | Initia halts its chain after the exploit. The halt took effect at 15:41:30 UTC, 14 minutes after Spreek's post on X. |
| Oct. 24, 2026 | Upbit and Bithumb pause INIT transfers. Both suspended INIT deposits and withdrawals and issued an investment warning. |
By the numbers
- $2.6 million is Spreek's estimate, posted at 15:27 UTC on Oct. 23, 2026, of what the attacker had cashed out2.
- About $2.7 million in AUSD, ETH and USDC was minted and moved out before the halt, co-founder Zon wrote at 16:22 UTC4.
- Fourteen minutes passed between Spreek's post and Initia's halt at 15:41:30 UTC3.
- Initia's own notice on X came at 16:00 UTC, 33 minutes after Spreek's post3.
- D2 Finance counted 2 million AUSD minted, an account that AUSD's issuer, Agora, disputes56.
- INIT traded at $0.1430 at 00:59 UTC on Oct. 24, 2026, up 10.8% in 24 hours, CoinGecko data shows9.
- TechCrunch reported Initia's $7.5 million seed round on Feb. 27, 20248.
What to watch
Initia said it “will share verified information through our official channels as it becomes available”3. That channel is where a confirmed loss figure should first appear. Agora's own account of the AUSD on Initia would settle D2 Finance's 2 million figure. Until Initia publishes its count, read $2.6 million as Spreek's early estimate.
Sources
- Kyle Baird, "Initia halts network after security incident as attacker reportedly mints tokens," The Block, Oct. 23, 2026, https://www.theblock.co/news/defi/2026-10-23-initia-halts-network-after-security-incident-attacker-reportedly-mints-tokens-427755
- Spreek, Post on X, Oct. 23, 2026, https://x.com/spreekaway/status/2113653520981447144
- Initia, Post on X, Oct. 23, 2026, https://x.com/initia/status/2113661738625155217
- Ezaan Mangalji, Post on X, Oct. 23, 2026, https://x.com/ItsAlwaysZonny/status/2113667290059190466
- Nate Kostar, "Initia Exploit: Reports of Hackers Minting Tokens, Moving Millions to Ethereum," Cointelegraph, Oct. 23, 2026, https://cointelegraph.com/news/initia-halts-blockchain-exploit-drained
- Lawrence Mondal, "Initia halts blockchain and rollups after reported $2.6M exploit," crypto.news, Oct. 23, 2026, https://crypto.news/initia-halts-blockchain-rollups-2-6m-exploit/
- PANews Staff, "After Initia Attack, Upbit and Bithumb Suspend INIT Deposits and Withdrawals and Issue Warning," PANews, Oct. 24, 2026, https://panews.io/articles/01a16995-5a5b-710b-91cb-7398e31a1989
- Rita Liao, "Initia Raises $7.5M Seed Round to Simplify Blockchain Development," TechCrunch, Feb. 27, 2024, https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/27/initia-raises-7-5m-seed-money-to-ease-blockchain-development/
- CoinGecko, "Initia (INIT) Price, Charts and News," CoinGecko, Oct. 24, 2026, https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/initia
- Agora, "Agora - Modern money and banking for global business," Agora, Oct. 24, 2026, https://www.agora.finance/