Autheo's THEO token fell 92.4% over 24 hours on Base after a suspected cross-chain mint exploit. The project told users to stop trading and bridging THEO, and its incident notice did not explain how the mint was authorized.
Autheo's THEO token plunged 92.4% over 24 hours in its Hydrex Integral pool on Base after a suspected cross-chain mint exploit. Early on Oct. 13, the THEO/USDC pool held about $45,000 in liquidity, according to GeckoTerminal data cited by The Defiant.
Crypto Briefing put THEO at about $0.08 before the incident and around $0.006 within a day.
19 million tokens minted on Base
A BaseScan transaction records the creation of 19 million THEO at 1:06 p.m. ET on Oct. 12. A later swap sent about 9.5 million THEO from the receiving wallet into trading contracts and returned 189.06 ETH to it.
Autheo acknowledged a security incident on Oct. 12. According to the project, users were told: "Do not buy, sell, or bridge THEO." The warning stays in place until an official all-clear.
A single trusted relayer in the spotlight
The mint transaction called the process function on the token's cross-chain mailbox. Security monitor Defimon Alerts described an "unbacked cross-chain mint" and identified the route's security module as TrustedRelayerIsm, which relies on a single trusted relayer to authorize incoming messages.
The project uses a Hyperlane-based bridge to move tokens between its mainnet, Base and Robinhood Chain, according to Crypto Briefing. The exact root cause has not been confirmed.
ETH moves to Ethereum
Eight subsequent swaps on Base paid a combined 292.16 ETH to the mint recipient, according to The Defiant's calculation. That figure covers those eight payouts, not a comprehensive loss total.
One Relay bridge deposit sent 280.45 ETH from the wallet on Base, and a linked Ethereum transaction paid 278.52 ETH to the same address eight seconds later.
Sources: The Defiant, Crypto Briefing
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