Core DAO Coordinates Emergency Hard Fork After Validators Receive Excess Rewards

The Core network says the reward issuance incident has been contained and that its planned upgrade will not roll back the blockchain or reverse confirmed transactions.

Earlier coverage: Webull Expands Crypto Trading to Canada Through Coinbase Partnership

Core DAO is coordinating an emergency hard fork after a small group of validators received CORE block rewards above the amount the protocol was designed to issue.

In a September 1 update, Core said it had contained the incident and that the validators it described as “malicious” could no longer collect excess rewards. The team is now working with network validators to deploy a permanent fix through an emergency hard fork.

Core emphasized that the change would be a forward upgrade rather than a blockchain rollback. As a result, the network does not plan to reverse transactions that have already been confirmed.

“Assets remain safe,” Core said, adding that it would release a full technical postmortem after completing its response. Core DAO’s official update

Reward issuance problem identified

Core first publicly acknowledged the issue on August 31, saying that a small number of validators had accrued block rewards “above the protocol’s intended issuance.”

At the time, the project said it had identified the root cause and was working on mitigation measures. It characterized the incident as a reward issuance problem, rather than an issue affecting the security of the network or the custody of users’ funds.

The subsequent update confirmed that the immediate problem had been contained, although the planned hard fork is still required to introduce a permanent fix.

Core has not announced when the upgrade will take place or provided instructions for CORE holders. Its statement indicates that the work is primarily being coordinated with validators responsible for operating the network.

Exchanges restrict CORE transfers

Several cryptocurrency exchanges restricted CORE deposits and withdrawals around the time the incident became public.

Coinbase temporarily paused sends and receives over the Core DAO network on August 30 at 9:41 p.m. Pacific Time. The exchange said CORE trading services—including purchases, sales and conversions—were not affected. Fiat transactions also remained available. As of September 2, Coinbase continued to list the transfer interruption as unresolved. Coinbase status page

South Korean exchanges Bithumb and Coinone introduced similar restrictions on August 31. Bithumb said it would temporarily suspend CORE deposits and withdrawals because of circumstances suggesting a possible security problem. It said services would resume after the network’s stability had been confirmed. Bithumb notice

Coinone said it had confirmed a security issue involving CORE and suspended deposits and withdrawals from 1:34 p.m. Korea Standard Time. Trading remained available during the suspension. Coinone notice

Bitget also suspended CORE deposits and withdrawals from 1:43 p.m. UTC+8 on August 31, citing wallet maintenance. The exchange did not specify when those services would resume. Bitget announcement

LBank separately halted CORE deposits, describing the suspension as being implemented in accordance with the project’s requirements. LBank notice

Key questions remain unanswered

Core has not disclosed the total amount of excess CORE rewards issued, the number of validators involved or how long the irregular issuance continued. It also remains unclear whether any of the additional tokens were transferred or entered the circulating market.

Although Core said the root cause had been identified, it has not publicly explained the technical vulnerability or mechanism that allowed validators to receive rewards above the protocol’s intended level.

The promised postmortem is expected to provide further information about the cause, scale and timeline of the incident, as well as the measures being introduced through the hard fork. Until then, the financial effect of the excess issuance and the status of the additional CORE rewards remain uncertain.