Initia halted its Layer 1 in coordination with validators on Nov. 10 after detecting unauthorized transfers from escrow accounts backing assets bridged to its rollups, the network said. The project said compromised rollup-infrastructure keys enabled attackers to fabricate IBC transfers.
About $605,000 in USDC and $10,000 in other tokens exited through Noble before the halt, according to Initia’s incident update.
Approximately $3.27 million in assets moved during the broader incident, while about $2.16 million remained frozen on the halted chain, a subsequent report said.
Compromised rollup keys triggered Initia’s Layer 1 halt
Initia said the validator-coordinated halt was imposed after unauthorized transfers were identified from escrow accounts that back assets bridged to rollups. In its Nov. 10 statement, the project attributed the transfers to compromised infrastructure keys and said the attackers had fabricated IBC transfers.
IBC, or Inter-Blockchain Communication, is used to pass assets and messages between compatible chains. In this case, the alleged fabrication of transfer messages allowed withdrawals tied to bridged rollup assets before the Layer 1 was stopped.
Command injection and a Google Cloud key enabled forged withdrawals
Initia's technical update described a command-injection attack involving a compromised Google Cloud key. The exposed credentials gave the attackers access to rollup infrastructure, the project said, enabling forged withdrawals from five rollups.
The account identifies the infrastructure compromise as the route into the withdrawal process; it does not say that Initia's native INIT token itself was withdrawn. The incident instead centered on escrow-backed assets associated with bridged rollup activity.
$3.27 million moved, while $2.16 million remains frozen
The funds known to have exited through Noble before the initial halt were about $615,000, comprising approximately $605,000 of USDC and $10,000 of other tokens. That amount is smaller than the approximately $3.27 million in assets reported as having moved during the incident.
About $2.16 million remained frozen on the halted chain, while no INIT tokens were withdrawn, according to a Nov. 11 CoinMarketCap Academy report citing Initia's update. The frozen balance indicates that not all assets affected by the forged-withdrawal episode had left the chain when the halt took effect.
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