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Core DAO is coordinating an emergency hard fork after a small group of validators received CORE rewards above the blockchain’s intended issuance rate.
The network said on September 1 that the issue had been contained and that validators it described as malicious could no longer draw excess rewards. Core said user assets remain safe, while validators will still need to deploy the hard-fork upgrade for a permanent fix.
Hard Fork Will Leave Confirmed Transactions Untouched
Core said the emergency upgrade will not roll back the blockchain or reverse previously confirmed transactions. New protocol rules will instead take effect from a specified point once validators deploy the fix.
The project said it has identified the root cause but has not publicly explained the technical flaw that allowed the affected validators to receive excess rewards.
Core has also not announced an activation time for the hard fork. A full technical postmortem is planned after remediation is complete.
Core Has Not Disclosed Amount of Excess CORE Issued
Core first reported the problem on August 31, saying a few validators had accrued block rewards far above the amount scheduled by the protocol.
The network has not disclosed how many validators were involved, how much excess CORE they received, how long the issue lasted or whether any of the tokens entered circulation.
CORE has a maximum supply of 2.1 billion tokens, with about 840 million allocated to node mining over the network’s long-term emission schedule.
Coinbase, Bithumb and Coinone Restrict CORE Transfers
Several exchanges restricted CORE deposits and withdrawals while the network investigated the incident. Coinbase paused CORE sends and receives on August 30 while keeping buys, sells, conversions, and fiat transactions available.
Bithumb suspended CORE deposits and withdrawals on August 31 over a suspected security issue and later designated the token for trading caution. Coinone also halted CORE transfers and maintained the restriction under the same designation.
The next confirmed steps are the hard-fork activation and Core’s technical postmortem, which is expected to explain the root cause and quantify the excess rewards.
