Zano, a privacy-focused blockchain network, said it is preparing to roll back roughly 24 hours of chain history after discovering an inflation bug tied to Gateway Addresses. The move would remove accepted transactions from the canonical chain as miners, stakers and nodes switch to the revised history.
The project has told users on X and Telegram to stop economic activity involving ZANO and Confidential Assets. Zano also said it intends to reimburse losses caused by the rollback, but it has not yet published the exploit details, the rollback height, patched binaries, or the amount of unauthorized assets that may have been created.
An unusual fix for a serious flaw
If the rollback goes ahead, around a full day of blockchain history would be erased. That means the measure is not limited to reversing unauthorized asset creation; it could also remove legitimate user transactions that were confirmed during that period.
The team has not publicly disclosed exactly how the bug was exploited or how many coins or assets were created through it. As a result, the scale of the incident remains unclear even as the network moves toward one of the most disruptive remedies available to a blockchain project.
Issue tied to Gateway Addresses
According to the project, the problem is connected to Gateway Addresses, a feature introduced with Hard Fork 6 at block 3,833,000 on Aug. 26. Gateway Addresses were intended to make Zano easier for exchanges, bridges and decentralized exchanges to support.
The reported vulnerability involves assets that could be created when gateway outputs and confidential outputs interact. Zano has not identified the exact vulnerable function in public, and any attempt to link the issue to broader recent code changes remains speculative based on the information released so far.
Users told to halt activity
In its public notices, Zano instructed users to suspend activity involving both ZANO and Confidential Assets while the incident is handled. The warning suggests the team is trying to limit additional exposure before the rollback and software updates are finalized.
The project has also said it plans to compensate users for damages tied to the rollback. However, there is still no published procedure explaining how reimbursement would work or which losses would qualify.
Key details still pending
A full postmortem has not yet been released. Missing details include the amount of unauthorized assets created, the exact rollback target, and the technical explanation for how the inflation bug occurred.
The next confirmed step is the planned rollback itself, with participating miners, stakers and nodes expected to adopt the revised chain history. Until Zano publishes its postmortem and patched software details, the incident remains unresolved and important parts of the timeline are still being established.
Source: news.bitcoin.com