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– Key Points: An incorrect operation caused a temporary split in the Cardano blockchain, necessitating an urgent patch and update of the entire system.

The incident is being treated as a possible hacker attack, the source of which is traced back to the account of an ex-member of the test network.

Cardano co-founder Charles Hoskinson called the incident a deliberate act by an angry steak pool operator.

The failed transaction led to a short-lived Cardano chain split on Saturday, as old and new versions of nodes validated data sent to the network differently.

This discrepancy caused some block miners to leave on the “infected” branch while others remained on the correct branch, triggering an emergency patch and update instructions for the entire community.

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An incident that was later linked to a former test network member’s wallet is being investigated as a possible cyberattack.

Intersect, the governing body of the Cardano ecosystem, said in a report after analysis that the mismatch occurred when new nodes accepted an incorrectly formed transaction that was ignored by older nodes.

The mismatch occurred because of a vulnerability in the underlying software library that was not detected by the verification system. As the spread spread, block makers began to form different branches of the chain, creating what the group called a “poisoned” ledger and a parallel “healthy” chain.

Engineers promptly implemented the patched node software, and operators were instructed to update to revert back to the main (canonical) chain.

Cryptocurrency exchanges and wallet providers temporarily suspended deposits/withdrawals for the duration of the incident just in case, although Intersect assured that user funds were not affected and most retail wallets were protected as they used components that safely filtered out the erroneous transaction.

Cardano co-founder Charles Hoskinson described what happened as a targeted, malicious attack by an outraged steak pool operator who was looking for ways to “damage the brand and reputation” of Input Output Global (IOG).

He warned that the outage affected all users, from block creators missing out on rewards to DeFi projects facing an unstable state, and noted that it could take weeks for the network to fully restore uniformity.

This was a deliberate action by a disloyal SPO (pool operator) who spent months in the Fake Fred chat room actively looking for opportunities to damage IOG’s image and reputation. His target was my personal pool, which led to the disruption of the entire Cardano network.

Meanwhile, user X alias “Homer J.

” took responsibility, stating that he acted alone, had no intention of shorting or selling ADA, and did not intend to cause damage.

The user claimed he used AI-generated terminal commands to block external traffic when attempting to replicate an incorrect transaction, and only realized the extent of the problem when the blockchain explorers stopped updating.