Harmony, a Layer-1 blockchain network, is moving forward with a blockchain rollback approach (emergency process that rewinds a blockchain’s history to a previous state, erasing or altering confirmed blocks and transactions to fix major bugs, hacks, or consensus errors) after an exploit that led to the illegal minting of roughly 4 billion ONE tokens, representing about 26% of the token supply. The rollback has emerged as the most feasible and practical solution as Harmony coordinates with validators and exchanges to understand the path ahead. The project has also begun a mint bug fix and said a full list of exploiter wallets will be out soon.
The attack has put Harmony under pressure as the attacker rapidly moved billions of unauthorized minted tokens towards exchanges. Harmony is now planning to control the remaining funds, complete the emergency validator upgrade, and understand how this blockchain activity can be reversed.
Harmony Prepares for a Reversal After the ONE Exploit
Harmony mentioned it is working with validators and exchanges on a specific rollback approach after the exploit allowed unauthorized ONE tokens to enter circulation. As per the information provided by Harmony, the project recorded 10,288 transfers across 409 wallets where unauthorized minted tokens landed.
But roughly 2.8 billion ONE quickly funneled to exchanges and the token’s price plunged. The attacker is estimated to have around 115 million ONE left to sell on-chain, representing about 2.9% of 4 billion tokens minted. The vast majority, around 97%, has already reached exchanges and has either been sold or remains in deposit wallets for sale. Harmony’s answer is now focused on containing the illegal supply. The project had previously said it was working on a patch and rollback options, with the rollback now appearing to be the most feasible support as the practical solution.
Harmony’s Response to Emergency Minting Bug
The mint bug fix has now been activated, with the blockchain working to restrict further unwanted minting. Simultaneously, the validators upgrade to the emergency patch. Four hours after the patch was released, 53% of Harmony’s validators had completed the upgrade. Harmony thanked validators for their help as the emergency upgrade continued, while saying more details on the rollback plan would be out within a few hours. The team is also planning to release a comprehensive list of exploited wallets.
The blockchain was founded by Stephen Tse, and its mainnet was launched in 2019. The blockchain uses Secure Random State Sharding as its core technology. The project was positioned as a better and cheaper layer-1 alternative to Ethereum. Harmony was on its peak in the year 2021, when early-year MetaMask integration helped drive interest in the blockchain. In September that year, it announced a $300 million development fund, while ONE reached an all-time high of nearly $0.38 in October.
The price of the ONE token plunged by more than 30% as soon as the news of the exploit broke out yesterday, August 12, 2026. Interestingly, as of now, ONE is trading at $0.0008167 with an uptick of 6.7% in the last 24 hours, as per CoinGecko.
ZachXBT Denies Tracking the Exploit
On-chain investigator ZachXBT has denied tracking the Harmony hack incident. He describes it as freeloading investigators and other assistants. He also emphasizes that he would not track the incident or encourage others to help the blockchain for free. ZachXBT pointed to the $100 million Horizon Bridge exploit in 2022, reporting that Harmony had previously failed to reward people who helped with major freezes. They offered no monetary help and said, “Good job.”
As of now, Harmony’s immediate priorities are fulfilling the emergency validator upgrade, limiting the remaining exploiter funds, and reaching agreement with validators and exchanges on a better rollback path. The result of the process will determine how the network handles unauthorized minted ONE and whether the affected transactions can be feasibly reversed.
