Fogo Blockchain Halts Network After Attacker Gains 400 Million Tokens

Layer 1 blockchain Fogo shut down its mainnet on Saturday, roughly 15 hours after its foundation revealed that an attacker had gained 400 million FOGO tokens through an unexplained security compromise. At the time of the incident, the tokens were valued at around $3 million.

The network halt came shortly before Fogo’s official announcement, with the team stating the pause was meant to stop further movement of the stolen tokens while validators worked on a network upgrade. No timeline was given for when the network would resume, and details on how new address restrictions would function were not disclosed.

Foundation Initially Downplayed Chain Impact

In its first statement about the breach, the Fogo Foundation said an unidentified actor had compromised its systems and transferred the tokens to a malicious wallet, adding that exchanges and law enforcement had been alerted. At that time, the organization maintained that blockchain operations were unaffected. The specific method used in the attack has not been revealed.

Stolen Tokens Represent Major Share of Circulating Supply

The compromised tokens account for about 4% of Fogo’s total genesis token supply, but represent more than 10% of the tokens currently in circulation. Following news of the breach, at least two major exchanges temporarily suspended FOGO deposits and withdrawals, with one initially citing routine maintenance as the reason.

Fogo, which launched its mainnet earlier this year following a multimillion dollar token sale, has positioned itself as a high-speed blockchain built for fast onchain trading with minimal transaction manipulation risk. A previous claim on its website touting continuous uptime since launch had not been updated as of the halt.