Key takeaways:
- Horizon Bridge, a blockchain bridge connecting Harmony with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and BNB Chain networks has been hacked
- $100 million worth of wETH, USDC, and several other altcoins have been stolen
- Harmony’s ONE token plunged 10% on the news
The Harmony bridge connecting BNB Chain, Bitcoin, and Ethereum exploited for $100M
Harmony Protocol’s Horizon Bridge was hacked on Thursday, leading to a loss of $100 million worth of Wrapped Ether (wETH), Frax (FRAX), Sushi (SUSHI), and several other altcoins, including Binance USD (BUSD) and USD Coin (USDC) stablecoins. The Harmony team shared the unfortunate news on Twitter.
The Horizon Bridge, which is designed to facilitate transactions between Harmony and Bitcoin, Ethereum, as well as Binance networks was halted following the attack. The exploit raises questions about the security of pseudo decentralized blockchain bridges. Recall that earlier this year, the Ronin bridge attacker gained access to five out of nine validator signatures and was able to make away with more than $600 million worth of ETH and USDC. It is worth noting that the Horizon Bridge was secured with only two out of four multisig scheme.
The Harmony team stated on Twitter that “decentralized bridges are important now more than ever” and noted that they are paramount for “decentralization and security.” No further details were shared by the team, other than that they are working with “the FBI and multiple cyber security firms.”
Not accounting for the latest hack, the data from The Block shows that more than $2 billion worth of crypto was stolen by DeFi attackers in the past two years.
Looking at the wallet address belonging to the Horizon Bridge Exploiter, the balance of funds stolen in the attack currently stands at $104 million, equivalent to 85,867 ETH.
The price of Harmony’s native ONE token plunged over 10% in the aftermath of the attack. The token has seen a modest recovery by press time and is trading down 7.85% in the last 24hrs.
