Cardano News Update: Frustrated Operator Uses AI to Disrupt Cardano Blockchain, Prompting Urgent Repairs

This week, Cardano (ADA) encountered a major disruption when a deliberately malformed transaction led to a temporary split in its blockchain, forcing an urgent upgrade and sparking debate over the platform’s robustness. Charles Hoskinson, Cardano’s co-founder, referred to the event as a “deliberate attack.”

—one compromised and one intact—until developers released a fixed node update to reestablish consensus. The episode resulted in ADA’s price dropping by 6% in a short period, deepening its monthly loss to .

The chain split was triggered by a malformed delegation transaction,

, which bypassed validation in newer node versions but was rejected by older ones. This transaction , initially identified in 2022, that allowed an excessively large hash to cause a split in block validation. Block producers divided into separate groups, each following a different chain, which led to discrepancies in DeFi protocols and staking payouts. but acknowledged the incident highlighted vulnerabilities in the network’s consensus protocol.

by a dissatisfied stake-pool operator aiming to damage Cardano’s public image. The individual responsible, who claimed sole responsibility and issued a public apology, to reproduce the malformed transaction, unaware of the full extent of the disruption. “I regret my negligence,” the user stated, .

The split led to swift action from the Cardano community. Stake pool operators were told to update to node versions 10.5.2 and 10.5.3 to

. As a safety measure, exchanges and wallet services temporarily halted deposits and withdrawals, though retail wallets were unaffected since they used components that disregarded the malformed transaction. By Saturday, most platforms had resumed standard operations after the fix was implemented.

The market’s reaction reflected the seriousness of the event. ADA’s value slipped below $0.40, and derivatives data showed $91 million in short positions versus $11.5 million in longs.

, including a notable flash crash in October, played a role in the downturn. “No one noticed Cardano’s network split because nobody uses it,” one commentator remarked, drawing attention to the platform’s declining influence.

Even though the technical issue was resolved, concerns remain.

that the vulnerability had gone unnoticed for years, hidden by older ledger versions and standard transaction tools. Meanwhile, co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko commended Cardano’s consensus approach, stating that the incident demonstrated the strength of its design.

This episode adds to a difficult year for

, and the loss of crucial technical support levels. While developers highlight the network’s rapid recovery, the event exposes the vulnerabilities of decentralized systems when faced with rare but critical failures.