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Gnosis Chain Hard Fork Puts Frozen Balancer Hack Funds Beyond Attacker Control

Validators face upgrade deadlines with penalties for noncompliance.

Overview

  • Gnosis executed the governance-approved fork on Dec. 22 and said the funds are now out of the hacker’s control.
  • The intervention targets roughly $9.4 million previously frozen on Gnosis Chain following a November soft fork.
  • Node operators were told to upgrade promptly or risk penalties, including withheld rewards and potential slashing.
  • Leadership plans to route the assets to a DAO-controlled wallet and outline user claims and contributor recognition, with a goal of enabling recovery by Christmas.
  • The action follows a Balancer V2 exploit reported at over $116 million across chains, with more than $28 million already recovered by white hats, and it has intensified debate over immutability and future intervention precedent.