after a crafted transaction exploited a long-standing bug and split the blockchain into two competing chains. The incident caused major exchanges to halt ADA operations for hours, DeFi apps to display conflicting states, and block explorers to freeze as the ecosystem scrambled to understand which chain would prevail.

The developer responsible publicly apologized, framing the event as an accidental experiment gone wrong — but Charles Hoskinson called it a “premeditated attack” and said federal authorities were already involved. The tension escalated further when an IOG