Neutron (Astroport + Drop) (2026) — Crypto Hack
Partially RecoveredA disguised 'AI governance experiment' proposal (Proposal 9) carried 11 MsgUpdateAdmin messages that reassigned admin of live Astroport and Drop contracts on Neutron. The attacker bought 31.6M NTRN and delegated it 11 minutes before voting closed; ~$9.4M was drained, and Cosmos Hub validators halted ~25 hours to contain ~$2.1M in ATOM.
Summary
A disguised 'AI governance experiment' proposal (Proposal 9) carried 11 MsgUpdateAdmin messages that reassigned admin of live Astroport and Drop contracts on Neutron. The attacker bought 31.6M NTRN and delegated it 11 minutes before voting closed; ~$9.4M was drained, and Cosmos Hub validators halted ~25 hours to contain ~$2.1M in ATOM.
How It Was Compromised — Governance via Governance Takeover / MsgUpdateAdmin
On September 22, 2026, Neutron suffered a governance takeover. Proposal 9 ('AIATO: AI Agent Takeover. Phase 1: Agent Admin Registration') was submitted September 19 and disguised as an AI governance research experiment; its payload was 11 MsgUpdateAdmin messages reassigning admin of live Astroport and Drop contracts. The attacker bought 31,627,304.38 NTRN with 20,199 USDC and delegated 31.62M NTRN just 11 minutes 39 seconds before voting closed (02:24:49 UTC September 22). The vote passed with ~82% yes, and within 24 minutes 10 contracts were migrated to malicious code_id 5399 exposing a withdraw_all function and drained. Approximately $9.4M in assets were moved and ~$1.96M was extracted off-chain. Neutron halted and Cosmos Hub validators halted for ~25 hours to contain 1,227,121 ATOM (~$2.1M), which was moved out of the attacker's wallet in the first block after restart. GoPlus Security published the breakdown.
Fund Flow & Laundering Analysis
Approximately $9.4M in assets were moved and ~$1.96M was extracted off-chain. The ~25-hour chain halt contained 1,227,121 ATOM (~$2.1M), but the attacker moved it out in the first block after restart.