Altcoins

Harmony Is Erasing 109,000 Transactions to Undo a Token Forgery

Harmony will revert its chain to a checkpoint from 11 August, discarding every transaction confirmed since, after attackers minted forged ONE tokens. It is the second network in a week to reverse confirmed activity.

⏱ 2 min read Altcoins
Quick Summary
  • Harmony will revert its blockchain to an August 11 checkpoint at 11:25 pm UTC, discarding 109,126 regular and 315 staking transactions after an exploit forged ONE tokens.
  • Selective transaction restoration was ruled out because inconsistent balances, contract states and nonces on the replacement chain would create further instability.
  • Investigators have traced nearly all forged ONE tokens to specific wallets or service boundaries and are working with exchanges, bridges and law enforcement; ONE held a market cap of roughly $10.8 million at last check.

Harmony has announced it will roll back its layer-1 blockchain to a checkpoint recorded at 11:25 pm UTC on August 11, discarding more than 109,000 transactions confirmed after that point, following an exploit that allowed attackers to forge ONE tokens.

What Gets Wiped

The abandoned window contains 109,126 regular transactions and 315 staking transactions. Harmony stated that selectively restoring individual transactions is not a viable option because balances, contract states, nonces and other chain conditions would be inconsistent on the replacement chain. Validators will build new blocks from the next available block heights using fresh replacement databases.

How the Exploit Unfolded

Reports of unauthorised ONE token minting emerged last week, with the forged tokens subsequently sent to exchanges. Harmony said on Monday that investigators have now traced nearly all of the fabricated ONE tokens to specific wallets or service boundaries, and the team is cooperating with exchanges, bridges and law enforcement. At last check, ONE carried a market cap of approximately $10.8 million, according to CoinGecko data.

Why a Selective Fix Was Ruled Out

The network explained that a surgical, transaction-by-transaction restoration would introduce chain-state inconsistencies across balances, smart contract states and transaction nonces, making a clean full rollback the only technically sound path forward.

Ravencoin Faces a Parallel Rollback Battle

Harmony’s decision places it alongside Ravencoin as networks actively pursuing a reversal of already-confirmed blockchain activity in the wake of an exploit. Ravencoin faces a potential three-day blockchain reorganisation after a consensus flaw was exploited, with mining pools controlling the majority of its hash rate having begun constructing a competing chain capable of reversing previously confirmed transactions. Ravencoin’s recent price of $0.002819 implied a market cap of $46.3 million.

⚖️ Our Verdict 📉 Bearish Signal

Erasing 109,126 confirmed transactions is about as direct a hit to a chain's core promise as exists, and Harmony is the second network in a week to reach for that option. Worth keeping in proportion, though, because ONE is a $10.8 million token and the damage is contained to its own holders rather than spreading anywhere. The uncomfortable pattern is that both chains could do this precisely because they are small enough for a few parties to agree on it.