Maya Protocol cryptocurrency exploit

Maya Protocol, a cross-chain decentralized exchange, halted its MAYAChain blockchain following a sophisticated exploit that drained approximately $1.65 million to $1.7 million in digital assets. The attack utilized a single transaction containing 23 messages to exploit a chain of six interconnected software vulnerabilities related to trade accounts, outbound transaction processing, and liquidity pool calculations.

The exploit allowed an attacker to manipulate internal accounting and trigger a compensation path that credited an inflated balance to a liquidity pool. This resulted in the theft of roughly 20 BTC and approximately 48.87 million CACAO tokens. While some assets were moved to external blockchains, significant portions of the stolen funds remained stationary on the chain as of August 21.

The financial impact extended beyond the direct theft; the protocol’s native settlement token, CACAO, plummeted nearly 89 percent in value. Due to this price collapse and subsequent arbitrage activity, the total decline in liquidity pool value was estimated to be as high as $10.9 million.

Co-founder AaluxxMyth confirmed the network halt to contain losses and expressed intentions to work toward a full recovery. However, the protocol has not yet released a formal compensation plan or a definitive explanation regarding who will absorb the losses caused by arbitrage and CACAO repricing.