Overview
- PeckShield and other researchers reported that THEO lost about 92% of its value after unauthorized tokens were minted on Base and sold into the market over October 12–13.
- Blockchain tracing shows an on-chain swap of newly created THEO for roughly 700.8 ETH, with those proceeds moved from Base to Ethereum, which complicates recovery.
- Researchers disagree on the scale of the minting — PeckShield cited about 19 million THEO while another analyst reported roughly 119 million — and Autheo has not verified the total created or the exploit vector.
- Autheo has paused trading and bridging for THEO, warned holders not to buy, sell, or bridge the token, and opened a formal investigation into how the unauthorized minting occurred.
- The incident echoes prior 2026 bridge attacks where cross-chain infrastructure allowed token creation without backing, which amplified losses here because thin liquidity on Base made dumped tokens far easier to move into other chains and hurt holders' ability to recover value.