Core blockchain to undergo emergency hard fork after validator reward exploit

Core DAO is coordinating an emergency hard fork to address an anomaly in its blockchain network's reward issuance. A small group of validators exploited a flaw in the Satoshi Plus consensus mechanism's scoring system to claim more block rewards than the protocol intended. While initially viewed as an anomaly, Core DAO has since reclassified the behavior of these validators as malicious.

The project has confirmed that the incident is isolated to validator payouts and does not affect the security, custody, or ownership of user assets. The upcoming hard fork is a forward-only upgrade designed to patch the vulnerability and prevent future exploitation without reversing transactions or rolling back blocks.

The incident has prompted precautionary measures from cryptocurrency exchanges. Coinbase paused CORE deposits and withdrawals on August 31, 2026, while LBank suspended deposits entirely. The primary concern remains the potential for token oversupply, as the CORE token has a hard cap of 2.1 billion tokens.