The highly anticipated NORMIE token suffered a catastrophic 99% plunge on Sunday after falling victim to an exploit. Attackers manipulated the token’s total supply by exploiting a tax function in its contract, leading to the complete depletion of its liquidity pools.
Blockchain analysts identified the exploit as attackers managed to issue more tokens than the intended 1 billion supply. These additional tokens were promptly exchanged for ether, exacerbating the damage to the project.
In a surprising turn of events, the attacker extended an offer to NORMIE developers through an on-chain message, proposing to return 90% of the stolen funds in exchange for a project relaunch. The message outlined the terms, stating, “I offer to return 90% of the exploited ETH, keeping 10% as a bug bounty (with no reprisals). One condition: it, and the 600 ETH in the dev wallet, are used to fairly launch a new token that is used to reimburse NORMIE holders.”
This marked one of the first instances of an attacker conditioning fund return on a project relaunch. The developers, facing a significant loss, accepted the offer, as revealed in messages on the project’s official Telegram group.
In a subsequent on-chain message, the attacker criticized NORMIE’s contract code, labeling it a “copy-paste” job that likely lacked thorough review before going live. They highlighted the prevalence of similar code across various token contracts and speculated that developers may have overlooked critical flaws in their rush to deploy the token.
Prior to the exploit, NORMIE boasted a market capitalization of over $40 million and nearly 90,000 token holders on the Base platform, drawing inspiration from the popular Pepe the Frog character.
Following the attack, NORMIE’s market capitalization plummeted to just $700 as of early Monday, leaving investors reeling from massive losses. One investor, in particular, saw their $1.6 million investment shrink to a mere $150 in seconds, underscoring the severity of the attack.
As investigations continue and developers work towards relaunching the project, NORMIE’s trading activity remains suspended, with stakeholders eagerly awaiting updates on the token’s future.
