Horizon Bridge, a cross-chain interoperability protocol between Harmony, Ethereum, and Binance Smart Chain (BSC), has become the latest DeFi project to be exploited, with the hackers stealing $100 million.Â
Horizon Bridge Suffers $100 Million Exploit
In the early hours of Friday, June 24, the Harmony Team announced that it had “identified a theft occurring” on the Horizon bridge. Harmony placed the amount of the theft at approximately $100 million.Â
Harmony reported that the Ethereum address to which the hacker sent funds has been identified. At the time of writing, 85,867 ETH, worth an estimated $98.9 million, sits in the address identified by the Harmony Team.
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The Horizon bridge was designed to allow users to exchange tokens, stablecoins, and NFTs, between Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain (BSC), and Harmony blockchains. Harmony reported that the Bitcoin bridge was not affected by the exploit.
Harmony Team Working with Authorities to Recover Funds
Upon identifying the culprit, the Harmony Team announced that they are currently working with “national authorities and forensic specialists” to retrieve the stolen funds.
In a follow-up tweet, Harmony noted it is working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and “multiple cyber security firms.” The team says it is “working around the clock” to ensure the recovery of funds.
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Harmony developers have also notified supported crypto exchanges and stopped the Horizon bridge to prevent further transactions.Â
On The Flipside
- The Axie-Infinity parent company has announced that it will refund users who lost money in the $625 million Ronin Bridge hack and restart the Ronin Bridge in four days.
Why You Should Care
The Horizon Bridge hack is the third major bridge exploit this year, intensifying the calls for greater security of bridge networks.
Read about the development of the Harmony bridge below:
Harmony Grants $300 Million Fund for DAOs and Launches Bitcoin Bridge
The Ronin hack is covered in:
Axie Infinity’s Ronin Network Hacked in $625 Million Exploit
North Korean Hackers, Lazarus Group, Behind $625 Million Ronin Hack – U.S. Treasury
