MAP Protocol’s MAPO Token Crashes Nearly 96% After Major Butter Bridge Exploit

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MAP Protocol has suffered a major security incident after hackers exploited a critical vulnerability in its Butter Bridge infrastructure, causing the project’s native MAPO token to crash nearly 96% within hours. The exploit allowed attackers to mint an enormous quantity of fake MAPO tokens, triggering panic selling and severe market disruption across the ecosystem.

Security firm Blockaid first identified the attack on May 20, reporting that the attacker successfully minted approximately 1 quadrillion MAPO tokens, estimated to be nearly 4.8 million times larger than the legitimate circulating supply at the time. The unauthorized minting rapidly flooded the market and caused one of the sharpest token collapses seen in recent crypto history.

How the Butter Bridge Exploit Happened

The exploit targeted the Butter Bridge, a cross-chain service designed to help users transfer assets between blockchain networks including Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain.

According to early reports, the attacker abused a flaw in the bridge’s verification mechanism, allowing the system to incorrectly generate massive amounts of MAPO tokens without legitimate backing. After minting the fake assets, the attacker sold part of the tokens into liquidity pools and extracted an estimated $110,000 to $180,000 worth of assets before the market collapsed.

Before the exploit, MAPO traded near $0.003. Within hours of the attack, the token crashed to roughly $0.00009, erasing almost all of its market value during the peak of the sell-off.

Current Market Situation

As of May 21, 2026, MAPO is trading near $0.0020, representing a decline of roughly 34% over the past 24 hours. The token currently ranks around #1110 by market capitalization, with an estimated market cap of $12.6 million.

Trading activity surged sharply following the exploit, with more than $4.3 million in daily trading volume recorded during the period of heightened volatility. The circulating supply remains approximately 6.2 billion MAPO tokens.

Despite a partial rebound from the day’s lowest levels, MAPO remains highly volatile and is still down more than 99% from its all-time high of $0.2726.

Recovery Measures Announced by the Team

The teams behind MAP Protocol and Butter Network responded quickly after the exploit was discovered, taking immediate steps to limit further damage and stabilize the ecosystem. The affected Butter Bridge services were paused shortly after the attack was identified, while the team confirmed that users’ pending transactions and regular bridge funds remain safe.

The project is now preparing a broader recovery and migration plan for legitimate holders, which includes deploying a new token contract and taking a blockchain snapshot to separate authentic balances from the attacker-generated fake tokens. The teams also warned users not to interact with suspicious MAPO tokens and advised the community to revoke unnecessary wallet approvals until official recovery and migration instructions are released through verified channels.

Ongoing Risks and Market Impact

Although the attacker managed to cash out only a portion of the stolen value before the token collapsed, a large quantity of the fake MAPO tokens reportedly remains under the attacker’s control. This continues to create uncertainty surrounding liquidity conditions and future market stability for the token.

The incident once again highlights the ongoing security risks tied to cross-chain bridge infrastructure, which has repeatedly become a major attack target within the cryptocurrency industry. Even without private key theft, vulnerabilities in bridge validation systems can allow attackers to create unauthorized assets at massive scale and severely impact investor confidence.A similar pattern was recently observed in the Solv Protocol exploit, where a smart contract vulnerability led to millions in losses from the Bro Vault, further raising concerns around DeFi protocol security.

Safety Tips for Crypto Users

Users interacting with bridge protocols and decentralized finance platforms should remain cautious during periods of instability and market stress.

Important precautions include:

• Use only trusted and widely audited bridge platforms
• Carefully review wallet approvals before signing transactions
• Monitor official announcements from project teams before taking action
• Avoid trading suspicious or newly minted tokens during exploit events
• Diversify holdings to reduce exposure to single-project risks
• Consider using blockchain security tools that can detect malicious approvals or suspicious smart contracts

Legitimate MAPO holders are advised to closely monitor updates from MAP Protocol and Butter Network regarding token recovery procedures, migration timelines, and further security announcements.