Manta Network Hit by DDoS Attack Amid Token Issuance

Upstart blockchain Manta Network was hit by a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack as it issued its MANTA token, leading to longer-than-expected withdrawal times and a slow network.

“The network has accumulated a large queue of recent transactions,” Manta developers said in an X post. “This is leading to longer transaction times and impacts on gas fees. We are aware of this issue and are working to resolve it.”

DDoS is a common attack vector in which the attacker floods a server with internet traffic to prevent users from accessing connected online services and sites.

The attack occurred close to Manta’s initial token issuance event, co-founder Kenny Li said in a post. He noted communication between the blockchain and native applications was “severely limited” but that all funds were safe and the blockchain operated normally otherwise.

Manta is the latest in a rising cohort of new blockchains that offer faster transactions at lower costs than popular networks, such as Ethereum. These newer networks are usually backed by prominent funds and extensively market their blockchain in crypto circles on X and other social media platforms, hoping to capture market share and fees, which bolsters the value of their tokens.

MANTA zoomed as much as 25% after Thursday’s issuance, giving the network a market capitalization of nearly $550 million as of Friday. Manta had earlier attracted nearly $1 billion worth of ether (ETH) for its layer-2 network New Paradigm – driven by an airdrop program to those who transferred funds to the platform.

CORRECTION (Jan. 19, 10:31 UTC): Corrects headline and lede to clarify that the attack occurred during the token issuance.