- An attacker exploited a concurrency bug and created 2.25 billion XLM.
- In a statement to Messari, Stellar said that they had mentioned the bug twice in their release notes where they made it clear that the bug was exploited.
As per Messari Research, Stellar suffered an inflation bug in 2017 which created over 2 billion XLM. Stellar has since patched this with an equivalent token burn. While researching the supply details of the top 50 crypto assets, they discovered:
- In 2017, an attacker exploited a concurrency bug and created 2.25 billion XLM worth approximately $10 million at the time.
- This inflation represented nearly 25% of the circulating supply in April 2017.
- The Stellar Development Foundation decided to burn an equivalent amount of XLM from its community reserve to offset the illicit inflation.
- The affected addresses and related records of the bug are no longer accessible on Stellar Expert or other block explorers.
- The XLM tokens that were created was moved to exchanges and probably sold during the first half of 2017.
Stellar representatives shared the following statement with Messari:
"In April 2017, Stellar was an emerging open-source project with a small but dedicated developer community. Announcing the bug in our release notes, therefore, made total sense—that’s how you reach those users. We mentioned it twice, in fact, in the notes, and we were very clear the bug had been exploited. From there, we took the additional step of burning Lumens to “true up" the supply, so that current $XLM owners wouldn’t be diluted and our projected total supply would remain accurate. We recognize that Stellar has since become significant financial software, and our disclosure standards have grown to reflect that reality. There’s been no notable bug since, and if there were we would disclose it in full detail as soon as it was patched. As we announced last month in our 2019 Roadmap we have already committed to a full accounting of all of SDF’s Lumens by the end of the year, and more details around this old bug were going to be (and still will be) part of that.”
Note: All information on this page is subject to change. The use of this website constitutes acceptance of our user agreement. Please read our privacy policy and legal disclaimer. Opinions expressed at FXstreet.com are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the opinion of FXstreet.com or its management. Risk Disclosure: Trading foreign exchange on margin carries a high level of risk, and may not be suitable for all investors. The high degree of leverage can work against you as well as for you. Before deciding to invest in foreign exchange you should carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite. The possibility exists that you could sustain a loss of some or all of your initial investment and therefore you should not invest money that you cannot afford to lose. You should be aware of all the risks associated with foreign exchange trading, and seek advice from an independent financial advisor if you have any doubts.
Recommended Content
Editors’ Picks

XRP chart signals 27% jump after SEC-Ripple appeals pause and $50 million settlement
Ripple (XRP) stabilized above $2.00 exemplifying a similar pattern to the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, Bitcoin (BTC), which holds firmly above $84,000 at the time of writing on Thursday.

Bitwise lists four crypto ETPs on London Stock Exchange
Bitwise announced on Wednesday that it had listed four of its Germany-issued crypto Exchange-Traded products (ETPs) on the London Stock Exchange. It aims to expand access to its products for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) investors and widen its footprint across European markets.

RAY sees double-digit gains as Raydium unveils new Pumpfun competitor
RAY surged 10% on Wednesday as Raydium revealed its new meme coin launchpad, LaunchLab, a potential competitor to Pump.fun — which also recently unveiled its decentralized exchange (DEX) PumpSwap.

Ethereum Price Forecast: ETH face value- accrual risks due to data availability roadmap
Ethereum (ETH) declined 1%, trading just below $1,600 in the early Asian session on Thursday, as Binance Research's latest report suggests that the data availability roadmap has been hampering its value accrual.

Bitcoin Weekly Forecast: Market uncertainty lingers, Trump’s 90-day tariff pause sparks modest recovery
Bitcoin (BTC) price extends recovery to around $82,500 on Friday after dumping to a new year-to-date low of $74,508 to start the week. Market uncertainty remains high, leading to a massive shakeout, with total liquidations hitting $2.18 billion across crypto markets.

The Best brokers to trade EUR/USD
SPONSORED Discover the top brokers for trading EUR/USD in 2025. Our list features brokers with competitive spreads, fast execution, and powerful platforms. Whether you're a beginner or an expert, find the right partner to navigate the dynamic Forex market.