Neutron DAO approves 11 admin updates as $9.3M lost

On Sept. 22, Neutron DAO approved proposal #9, recorded on-chain as 11 “Update Admin” actions. The proposal, titled ‘AIATO: AI Agent Takeover. Phase 1: Agent Admin Registration,’ executed changes to contract administrators. Security tracker SlowMist estimated combined losses of $9.3 million from two Neutron-hosted applications: $4.9 million at Astroport and $4.4 million at Drop.

An on-chain “Update Admin” action allows a network to replace or reassign a contract’s administrator. Neutron’s governance framework designates the DAO as the network authority able to execute messages and change contract administrators, which can alter control over deployed applications.

During the incident response, operators applied a network halt to limit on-chain transfers. Reports from the response period indicate an attacker moved about one-fifth of the affected value off the halted environment, while the remaining assets were contained or unavailable for immediate movement.

Determining how much can be returned to users requires tracing which assets stayed contained, which were bridged or moved to other networks, which were restored from the halt, and whether any returned funds reached user accounts. No consolidated recovery total has been published; on-chain records are the primary source for tracking administrator updates and subsequent fund movements.

Neutron validators and community members are reviewing transaction flows and governance logs to identify assets that may be recoverable and to consider any further administrative or security actions. The approved administrator changes and the reported financial impact are visible in on-chain governance and transaction records.