The Zano blockchain has achieved stability following a month-long rollback to adddress an inflation vulnerability. This exploit, which surfaced after the Hard Fork 6 upgrade in late August, allowed hackers to mint unauthorized ZANO and fUSD.
The September 28 rollback and the Hard Fork 6 vulnerability
The Zano team implemented a significant network rollback on September 28 to address an inflation bug introduced during the Hard Fork 6 upgrade in late August. As reported by the source, this vulnerability allowed malicious actors to mint an unspecified amount of ZANO and fUSD. The Freedom Dollar team, which manages fUSD, noted that a preliminary investigation revealed that "several million dollars" worth of assets were exchanged for counterfeit fUSD during the period of exploitation.
This vulnerability remained undetected for approximately one month after the upgrade went live. The rollback was a drastic but necessary measure intended to restore the chain's integrity and maintain a capped supply of ZANO.. To participate in the post-rollback network,individual users are required to download updated mobile wallets, while third-party service providers must update their nodes to reconnect to the corrected chain.
Funding the recovery through developer funds and personal capital
To ensure that the ZANO supply and emission levels remain unchanged, the recovery process is being financed through a combination of the developer fund, the personal funds of team members, and support from committed contributors. The Zano project team has promised a full recovery of all affected balances, though the process is expected to be gradual. according to the report, the complexity of verifying transactions means that exchanges and third-party services must audit a full month of activity before they can safely reopen deposits and withdrawals.
This careful audit process is designed to prevent errors such as crediting balances to the wrong recipients or creating duplicate credits. Consequently, the full restoration of user balances may take longer than initially anticipated as various platforms complete their internal verifications.
An echo of the Zcash Orchard pool infllation bug
The recent Zano exploit mirrors a historical challenge faced by other privacy-centric protocols, specifically the Zcash Orchard pool inflation bug discovered in May. In the case of Zcash, such flaws can remain hidden for years; the report notes that a previous counterfeiting flaw in Zcash was not found until 2018. The inherent difficulty in monitoring shielded pools makes it notoriously difficult for developers to flag counterfeiting in real-time without compromising user privacy.
Zano has attempted to combat these systemic risks by implementing "turnstile accounting," a mechanism that allows assets to be tracked and counted between protocol upgrades. However, the recent incident highlights that even with such measures, privacy-focused Layer 1 chains remain uniquely vulnerable to sophisticated inflation exploits.
The challenge of the $5.50 price floor and exchange audits
While the technical stability of the Zano network has been restored, the market has reacted with significant volatility. In the past week, the price of ZANO declined by 36% to reach approximately $5.50. The report mentions that this $5.50 level has been a key support in 2026, though it remains uncertain whether buyers will step in to increase exposure as the network recovery plan unfolds.
Several questions remain regarding the speed of the recovery. It is currently unknown how long specific exchanges will take to complete their transaction audits, and the source does not specify which third-party platforms have already begun the update process. Until these audits are finalized and withdrawals are re-enabled, the liquidity and price stability of ZANO remain in a state of flux.
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