The FLOW token, from the blockchain of the same name, saw its price suddenly plummet by around 40% over the weekend. The cause: a hack estimated at $3.9 million, but that may not be the most important factor…
Flow: a hack estimated at $3.9 million
Security is a necessity in the cryptocurrency sector, even more so than elsewhere. And for good reason: its protocols and blockchains offer prime targets for malicious actors looking to steal fortunes with just a few clicks, when it’s not the actors themselves who are targeted for kidnapping.
In this highly tense environment, the Flow blockchain—a layer 1 specializing in the NFT sector—suffered a “flaw exploitation” attack over the weekend. The facts were made official on December 27 on the X network, with the damage ultimately fairly minimal for this type of case, estimated at $3.9 million.
On December 27, 2025, an attacker exploited a vulnerability in Flow’s execution layer and moved approximately $3.9 million in assets off the network before validators executed a coordinated shutdown. It is crucial to note that this exploit did not access existing user balances. All user deposits remain intact.
Flow
Almost immediately, the price of FLOW triggered a significant 40% drop, settling at $0.10. This further weighed on an already very poor performance, with an annual balance sheet now equivalent to a decline of almost 90%.
This unfortunate but fairly typical incident led to the Flow blockchain being shut down, raising questions about its effective decentralization. But perhaps not as much as the desire of its managers and validators to return to a pre-hacking state using a “rollback” procedure.
A “rollback” procedure worse than the initial hack?
As soon as the attack was discovered, Flow blockchain managers quickly attempted to block the hacker’s transfers, but to no avail. The hacker had apparently managed to move all of his loot to Ethereum using various bridges.
At the same time, they made a rather unusual decision that was quickly contested by many partners, such as the co-founder of the deBridge project, Alex Smirnov. The goal? To perform a “rollback” operation, which could be summarized as: we go back and start again as if nothing had happened.
The Flow team decided to roll back the blockchain (…) This hasty decision risks causing financial damage far greater than the impact of the initial exploit. A rollback introduces systemic problems that affect bridges, custodians, users, and counterparties who acted in good faith during the relevant window.
Alex Smirnov (deAlex)
Faced with opposition from its partners, the Flow blockchain finally abandoned this critical procedure, with a “revised remediation plan” validated a few hours ago. Its deployment has been underway since 7:00 this morning.
