Flow Scraps Rollback Plan later than Community Pushback Over $3.9M Exploit
Why Did Flow Abandon the Rollback Plan?
The Flow Foundation has dropped a proposal to roll back the Flow blockchain later than facing sharp criticism from developers, infrastructure providers, and token holders following a $3.9 million exploit. The initial plan, which included a potential chain reorganization, triggered concerns over decentralization and the precedent such a move would set for the network.
In a post on X on Monday, deBridge founder Alex Smirnov said there would be “no rollback” and no chain reorganization under the revised recovery process. Flow later confirmed the decision in a technical implementation update, stating that all valid transactions executed before the network halt would remain intact.
“There will be no chain reorganization,” Flow said. “All legitimate transactions that occurred prior to the halt remain valid and will not require resubmission or reconciliation.”
The reversal came later than users warned that undoing blocks could cause damage beyond the original exploit by breaking trust assumptions around finality and immutability. Smirnov described the rollback proposal as a “rushed decision” that risked creating financial harm across applications and bridges connected to Flow.
Investor Takeaway
What Happened During the Exploit?
Flow disclosed the $3.9 million exploit on Saturday. While full technical details have not yet been published, the incident prompted an emergency response that temporarily restricted affected accounts and paused parts of the network. As part of phase one of the remediation plan, operations on Flow were placed into a read-only state.
The non-EVM portion of the network, built on Flow’s Cadence programming model, was also halted as engineers assessed the scope of the attack and potential downstream effects. Flow said the initial measures were meant to limit further risk while preserving the integrity of existing transactions.
Market reaction was swift. Flow’s native token fell more than 20% within 24 hours following disclosure of the exploit and the initial rollback proposal. At the time of publication, the near $0.11, according to Cointelegraph Markets data.
How Is the Revised Recovery Plan Structured?
Under the updated plan, Flow is proceeding with a phased recovery that does not involve rewriting chain history. Phase one focuses on account-level restrictions and investigation, while later phases are expected to restore Cadence operations and resume interaction between .
Flow said implementation of the remediation steps could take several days. The network plans to relaunch Cadence-based activity and re-enable cross-system operations once checks are complete. Another update is expected within 24 hours, though it remains unclear whether all affected .
Find Labs, the team behind Flow block explorer Flowscan, said the process highlighted the hardy of crisis response in decentralized systems. “[Flow’s] response required genuine collaboration between parties under high stress,” the team wrote on X, adding that adjusting course based on ecosystem feedback was necessary despite the pressure to act rapidly.
Investor Takeaway
What Does This Episode Mean for Flow’s Governance?
The incident has placed renewed attention on how layer-1 networks respond to security failures. While rollbacks can offer a quick route to reversing losses, they also raise concerns around central coordination and discretionary control. Flow’s retreat from that option reflects the weight community sentiment now carries in crisis decisions.
The coming days will test whether the network can restore full functionality without further disruption and whether trust damaged by the exploit and ahead response can be rebuilt. For now, Flow has chosen to accept operational complexity rather than compromise immutability—an outcome shaped as much by community reaction as by technical constraints.
