Cardano suffered a temporary chain split due to a code vulnerability; the FBI has launched an investigation.

According to Cointelegraph, the Cardano network experienced a temporary chain split last Friday due to a malformed delegation transaction that triggered an old code vulnerability. The transaction, which delegated ADA to a staking pool, was valid at the protocol level but could have caused a code malfunction. According to an incident report released by Intersect, an organization within the Cardano ecosystem, the malformed transaction exploited an old code vulnerability in Cardano's underlying software library, causing nodes to disagree on how to process the transaction, ultimately resulting in a network partition. ADA staking pool operator Homer J admitted responsibility for the network partition, stating that he used AI-generated code to push the transaction. Intersect confirmed that no user funds were lost and most retail wallets were unaffected. The incident sparked debate within the Cardano community, with some arguing that Homer J's actions helped expose a critical vulnerability, while Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson called it an attack on the Cardano network. Hoskinson stated that the FBI has launched an investigation. He stated that such actions impacted the lives, finances, and business activities of millions, "like attempting to shut down an economy and launching a cyberattack against a nation-state." Despite the chain split and network disruption, ADA's price fluctuations were relatively mild, falling from $0.44 on Friday to around $0.40 at the time of the report. This modest decline occurred during a broad market downturn that began in October, accompanied by a $20 billion crypto liquidation.