Initia restarted its L1 and rollups on November 2 after the October 23 exploit. LayerZero WETH and AUSD0 withdrawals face a 24-hour period, while Noble USDC will have an hourly limit.
Initia brought its L1 and rollups back online on November 2. The team had halted the networks on October 23 after an attacker created unbacked balances. Transfers through bridges and exchanges will reopen separately, with additional withdrawal controls.
Initia’s L1 provides security, liquidity and connections between its application-specific rollups. Developers can choose their virtual machine and gas token, as Initia’s architecture documentation explains. The restart covers both the base network and the application networks built on it.
The chapter starting at 5:25 in Encode Club’s January 23, 2025 workshop introduces Initia’s interwoven rollups. Recorded before the exploit, it provides architectural background rather than evidence about the November 2 restart or security fix.
How bridge and exchange withdrawals will reopen
The team expects bridges and crypto exchanges to resume transfers during November 2. It did not give opening times for individual platforms or say when pending withdrawals would finish. A user’s ability to move assets still depends on the transfer route and the exchange reopening its service.
| Asset | Transfer route | Announced restriction |
|---|---|---|
| WETH | LayerZero OFT | 24-hour withdrawal period |
| AUSD0 | LayerZero OFT | 24-hour withdrawal period |
| Noble USDC | Noble | Hourly withdrawal limit |
Initia did not specify when the 24-hour period starts. It did not give an hourly withdrawal amount for Noble USDC or explain how the limit resets. The restrictions concern the assets and routes named in the post below; the team did not announce a 24-hour wait for all INIT transfers. It described the limits as an extra precaution and has not given a date for lifting them.
Initia Bridge can use several bridges for a cross-chain transfer. The team’s bridge documentation describes combining LayerZero, CCTP, IBC and the native optimistic bridge through the Skip Go API. Some routes also swap tokens on decentralized exchanges. The asset’s name alone is therefore insufficient: the bridge used to withdraw it also determines the timing and restrictions.
Assets are fully backed again
Initia said on November 2 that AUSD0, USDC.n and WETH were fully backed again. It did not report recovering the assets from the attacker or completing all user withdrawals.
The Initia Foundation approved funding on October 28 to restore one-for-one backing for affected Noble USDC, WETH and AUSD0 held as iUSD collateral. It would cover verified shortfalls of up to 1.08 million USDC, 105 ETH and 1.4 million AUSD0 once the accounts had been reconciled and the final transfer approved. The latest announcement did not say how much of each asset was ultimately transferred.
In its October 30 plan, the team said it would restore backing before reopening and users would not need to take any action. It also planned to apply a MoveVM patch that it described as independently audited, isolate the attacker’s remaining forged balances and add safeguards without rolling back transaction history.
InitiaDEX was to remain paused briefly at the start. The team planned to use a designated account to rebalance its liquidity pools to market prices and return any resulting profits to affected liquidity providers. The November 2 announcements did not say whether the pools had been rebalanced or those payments made.
The attacker forged balances without minting INIT
According to the team’s October 24 technical account, the attack began at 14:59 UTC on October 23. The attacker exploited a bug in MoveVM’s script cache to bypass security checks and write unbacked WETH, iUSD and USDC balances into network records. The affected tokens’ recorded total supplies did not change. The attacker did not mint native INIT, and its supply was unchanged.
Before the halt, the team said the attacker moved 105 WETH and about 1.4 million AUSD0 out through LayerZero, plus about 1.08 million USDC through Noble/CCTP. It valued those assets at roughly $2.7 million at the time. The restart announcements did not provide a final total loss or a user-by-user breakdown.
Initia plans to publish a full account of the incident and its response later this week. The team warns users about unofficial links, messages and claims. Before opening a link promising a refund or signing a request, users need to check its source and the authority it asks them to grant.
