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Privacy-focused blockchain Zano has restarted its network from block 3,833,000 after a vulnerability in its Gateway Address feature allowed unauthorized ZANO and Freedom Dollar (fUSD) assets to enter circulation. The restart takes the chain back to the point immediately before Hard Fork 6, which activated Gateway Addresses on August 26.
As a result, nearly a month of blockchain history has been removed from the recovered chain, including both the unauthorized activity and legitimate transactions recorded during the affected period.
According to Zano, its investigation found no compromise of wallet spending keys or the privacy of ordinary transactions. The team also said the project's core consensus mechanism was not affected.
Gateway Addresses were introduced with Hard Fork 6 to make Zano easier for exchanges, bridges, and other services to integrate. The feature was designed to give service operators an account-style balance while retaining Zano’s privacy features.
The vulnerability, however, affected asset issuance through these addresses. Zano said the flaw enabled unauthorized ZANO and fUSD to enter circulation, prompting the emergency recovery.
The project has not yet published its full technical post-mortem. It has said a detailed explanation of the vulnerability, along with findings from a review of related Gateway Address code, will follow.
The recovery is not simply a software change controlled by Zano's developers. Nodes, miners, stakers, pools, exchanges and other services must install the emergency release and move to the recovered chain.
Zano has also warned users to check whether third-party wallets, exchanges and payment services have completed the migration before sending funds. Transactions confirmed during the affected period are not included in the restarted chain, so users have been advised to retain transaction IDs and trading records and verify previous transfers before resending payments.
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The rollback has created a difficult situation for users and businesses whose legitimate transactions occurred during the affected month. Zano said it is working with affected projects and counterparties to assess losses.
The team plans to publish a reimbursement and claims process. It stated that recovery will remove unauthorized activity without creating additional ZANO tokens. Zano has also begun restoring its own services individually as network participants migrate.
The project said Gateway Addresses will remain under review before being reactivated. The technical findings and conditions for safely restoring the feature are expected to provide more detail on the next stage of the recovery.
