Flow Faces Trust Crisis After Chain Rollback

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Flow Faces Trust Crisis: Validators Urged to Halt After Chain Rollback

Written by Aaron S.,

Editor-In-Chief

Last Updated: December 29, 2025

Key Takeaways

Alex Smirnov asked Flow validators to pause transactions until a user recovery plan is set following a proposed blockchain rollback;
The rollback plan followed a $3.9 million exploit, which raised concerns about how users’ balances would be restored after the theft;
Smirnov warned that reversing transactions could harm users, bridges, and exchanges more than the initial Flow network breach.

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Flow Faces Trust Crisis: Validators Urged to Halt After Chain Rollback

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Alex Smirnov, founder of deBridge, has called on validators on the Flow FLOW $0.0958 network to stop confirming transactions until a clear recovery plan is created for users affected by a recent rollback proposal.

The rollback idea came after about $3.9 million was stolen on December 27. The theft occurred when a hacker exploited a weakness in Flow’s execution layer and moved the funds through several cross-chain bridges.

deBridge, one of the main bridge providers for Flow, raised concerns about how balances would be handled for users who transferred assets out of the chain during the rollback period.

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Smirnov urged the Flow Foundation to explain how these double-counted balances would be corrected.

Despite this request, validators have not yet stopped operations. Data from Flowscan shows that the network has been frozen at block height 137,385,824 since 11:24 PM UTC on December 27. Around that time, the Flow Foundation said it expected the blockchain to be operational again within 4 to 6 hours.

Smirnov argued that Flow did not inform partners in the ecosystem before deciding to roll back the chain. He warned that undoing recent transactions could harm users and service providers more than the original security breach itself. He explained:

A rollback introduces systemic issues that affect bridges, custodians, users, and counterparties who acted honestly during the affected window.

He also pointed out that crypto exchanges handling the Flow token could face complications in managing deposits and withdrawals made during the disputed period.

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