Binance Alpha Project Griffin AI Plummets 90% in Devastating Minting Attack

Another day, another crypto project learns the hard way that 'alpha' doesn't mean 'immune to basic exploits.'

The Attack Vector

Griffin AI's smart contract contained a minting vulnerability that allowed attackers to create tokens out of thin air—crashing the price by 90% in minutes. The exploit bypassed standard security checks that should have prevented unauthorized token creation.

Market Fallout

Investors watched their positions evaporate as the token's value collapsed. The 90% crash wiped out millions in market capitalization, leaving the Binance Alpha label looking more like a warning than an endorsement.

Security Questions

How does a project with Binance's backing ship with such fundamental flaws? The incident raises serious questions about audit processes—and whether 'move fast and break things' works when billions are on the line.

Just another reminder that in crypto, sometimes the only thing getting minted is greater fools.

Although Binance Alpha tokens are curated, their initial trading is often risky and can cause DEEP losses. However, a nearly 90% crash for GAIN was linked to an on-chain exploit. 

A Binance address minted an additional 5B GAIN, later dumping only a small part of the tokens through PancakeSwap. Due to the limited liquidity, the mint was enough to tank GAIN. In its initial trading, the asset was mostly represented on PancakeSwap and Uniswap. 

The accident involved a fake LayerZero peer token for GAIN, which allowed the exploiter to offer non-existent liquidity. The contract then allowed the attacker to create 5B GAIN and fully use them for swaps. 

Griffin AI project requests official trading freeze

Following the trading disaster and unauthorized token minting, the Griffin AI team called out to all exchanges to halt GAIN trading. For now, the token can still be transferred and swaps through Binance’s DEX router continue to go through. 

GAIN tokens are still held by only around 4K users, and the losses are limited. The asset hovers around $0.02 after trading started at $0.18. The team requested to stop centralized markets, where available, to prevent the attacker from transacting more tokens. 

We have formally requested all exchanges to pause trading, deposits & withdrawals of $GAIN (BSC).

This prevents the attacker from transacting and protects our community.

We’re coordinating closely with exchanges & security partners.

🙏 Thank you for your patience. More updates…

— GriffinAI | The #1 AI Agent Builder for DeFi 🤖 (@Griffin_AI) September 25, 2025

So far, Mexc has stopped its early-stage market for GAIN. The Mexc exchange noted the unauthorized supply gain even earlier and stopped GAIN trading even before the Griffin AI team explicitly requested.

However, even with a trading halt, the attacker has already swapped out multiple tranches of GAIN and bridged around 2,500 BNB to the main network. The Griffin AI project was a multi-chain structure, and the attacker used a fake ethereum contract, but ended up taking BNB tokens after swapping. 

The big problem is that GAIN still has 4.8B tokens outstanding in unauthorized supply, with no decision yet on freezing or removing the assets.

Griffin AI stops airdrop campaign

Following the exploit, Griffin AI has announced the end of its airdrop campaign. The previous Binance Alpha airdrop will not be affected, but no new tokens will be issued from the project’s reserves.

The token is still live, and Binance Alpha traders have full access to swaps. The recent GAIN token event recalls the recent exploit of the UXLink token, which also fell due to unauthorized minting. As Cryptopolitan reported, the token remains active. Ironically, the hacker’s wallet itself was emptied by another phishing address.

Following the exploit, Binance removed the incentives for trading GAIN and canceled the volume boost events, leaving just regular decentralized swaps. 

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