Zano Reverts Chain After Gateway Address Flaw Mints Unauthorized Tokens
Zano restarted its blockchain at block 3,833,000, erasing about a month of history after a Gateway Address vulnerability allowed unauthorized ZANO and Freedom Dollar tokens into circulation. The rollback invalidates legitimate transactions from the affected period and requires node operators, miners, stakers, and exchanges to adopt the recovered chain. The team plans a reimbursement and claims process for affected users and services, with a full technical report still pending.
Zano, launched May 2019, is a layer-1 private-payments chain. Its private transactions conceal sender, receiver, amount, and asset type, and it supports custom assets like fUSD. Hard Fork 6 introduced Gateway Addresses, letting exchanges, bridges, and payment services use one account-style balance instead of separate UTXOs. That convenience exposed the minting flaw.
The rollback reset the ledger to block 3,833,000, immediately before Hard Fork 6, removing roughly four weeks of records. Node operators, miners, stakers, and exchanges must adopt the recovered chain. External-chain and off-chain settlements remain separate. Zano is reviewing losses and plans reimbursement and claims, with technical details pending.
The rollback may affect Zano holders, traders, node operators, miners, stakers, exchanges, and payment services that relied on the discarded month. Legitimate transfers from that period could be reversed or need claims, potentially causing financial uncertainty and eroding trust in the network's finality. Because external-chain and off-chain settlements remain separate, some users may face inconsistent records. How quickly reimbursement and technical clarity arrive could shape whether the community and integrating services stay engaged.