An attacker exploited the Butter Network cross-chain bridge, minting a quadrillion MAPO tokens out of thin air-roughly 100,000 times the legitimate circulating supply. The native token of Map Protocol cratered from around $0.003 to approximately $0.0001 within hours Wednesday, a 96% decline. Its market cap collapsed below $1 million.
The attacker liquidated a portion, netting about 52.2 ETH ($110,000). The modest profit reflects the lack of buyers for such an oversupplied market. Map Protocol has paused all bridge operations for security assessments.
Cross-chain bridges remain a vulnerability in crypto. This exploit underscores a fundamental flaw in message validation, not just a simple fund extraction. For MAPO holders, the situation is grim; the price crash functionally destroys the token's credibility. The overhang of trillions of illegitimate tokens could cap any recovery.