Ethical hackers used a $3,000 server to find Aptos flaw that risked $70B in crypto

Ethical hackers found and helped patch a critical flaw in the Aptos blockchain that researchers said could have put about $70 billion in crypto at risk. According to CoinDesk, Hexens’ team ran the exploit path about 20 times in a simulated Aptos-like environment and succeeded 17 or 18 times, with attack costs of just hundreds of dollars and no validator access. Grego AI estimated about $250 million in Aptos-native TVL was directly at risk, while Mudit Gupta, CTO at Polygon, said the proof-of-concept “ran as claimed.” Aptos disputed real-world exploitability.