Event Background
Griffin AI’s native token, $GAIN, debuted on several leading exchanges on September 24, 2025. Despite strong market expectations, the token plunged over 95% within hours due to a hacker attack, resulting in significant losses for new investors.
Unauthorized Minting of 5 Billion Tokens
Blockchain records reveal that, in the early morning of September 25, an anonymous address exploited a vulnerability in the LayerZero cross-chain protocol to mint more than 5 billion GAIN tokens. This immediately diluted the original capped supply, resulting in a dramatic market collapse.
Emergency Response and Risk Advisory
After the attack, the Griffin AI team promptly removed liquidity from official pools and instructed major exchanges to halt all $GAIN trading, deposits, and withdrawals. Users were also warned to avoid suspicious pools to prevent further losses. Despite these actions, investor concerns remain elevated and market uncertainty persists.
Role and Controversy of the $GAIN Token
$GAIN was designed to be the central utility token of the Griffin AI ecosystem, intended for:
- Paying for AI services
- Unlocking premium features
- Serving as staking collateral
According to Hacken’s smart contract audit, $GAIN was meant to be a non-mintable token. However, hackers bypassed this restriction through a cross-chain protocol vulnerability, resulting in billions of unauthorized tokens. This fundamental design breach has further eroded confidence in the project’s security.
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Summary
This event underscores the persistent security challenges in DeFi and serves as a reminder to investors that even audited projects can be compromised by third-party vulnerabilities. Until confidence is restored, $GAIN’s future remains uncertain and warrants close monitoring of associated risks.
