Ankr exploit hits MORE Markets after attacker mints 8.6 million unbacked ankrFLOW
The incident did not target Flow EVM or the Flow network, and Flow said it had no effect on FLOW tokenomics.
Ankr’s liquid staking contract was exploited after an attacker minted roughly 8.6 million ankrFLOW without backing, then deposited the tokens into MORE Markets to borrow against them and drain about 15.5 million WFLOW, according to Flow Foundation.
The incident was first flagged by Blockaid on Monday. The stolen WFLOW was worth around $410,000 at spot prices, with the attacker ultimately realizing about $246,000 after slippage.
Flow said the vulnerability was confined to an Ankr Solidity smart contract and did not involve Flow EVM or the underlying Flow protocol. The team added that there was no impact on FLOW tokenomics, FLOW holders or depositors in MORE Markets and ankrFLOW.
The affected contracts were paused by Ankr and MORE Markets within hours, according to the report. Several exchange partners also halted FLOW deposits temporarily while they assessed the incident. With the issue contained and the network operating normally, Flow said it expects those deposits to be re-enabled shortly.
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Flow Foundation and Ankr will address the resulting liquidity imbalance in the ankrFLOW/WFLOW pool and replace the funds removed from MORE Markets’ reserve. Users with funds in the paused protocols do not need to take action and will be able to retrieve them once the services resume, the team stated.