AI-Driven Fault Triggers Brief Cardano Chain Split; FBI Investigating
Cardano experienced a brief chain split after a user’s faulty ADA delegation transaction, guided by AI, triggered a longstanding code bug. Although some nodes diverged, the network’s original chain remained canonical without requiring ledger edits or central intervention. Founder Charles Hoskinson revealed the FBI is investigating the incident. The attacker, active in the “Fake Fred” Discord group, apologized, saying his AI-driven experiment aimed to block network traffic on his Linux server as a personal technical test, with no malicious intent or financial gain. Experts hailed Cardano’s rapid fork-and-fix process and automatic recovery within hours as a proof-of-stake network resilience example, underscoring the risks of AI-based operations on blockchain networks.
Neutral
The incident had no financial loss or malicious intent and was resolved within hours, showcasing Cardano’s resilience without impacting market confidence. Similar past chain splits have led to temporary volatility, but rapid automatic recovery in proof-of-stake networks typically results in neutral trading reactions. Traders are unlikely to adjust positions based on a resolved technical test that caused no lasting disruption.