Hackers have stolen more than $320 million worth of cryptocurrency tokens from Wormhole, one of the largest bridges between the Solana and Ethereum blockchains.
The platform, which allows the transfer of cryptocurrencies between two decentralised blockchains, tweeted to confirm that the network “was exploited for 120k wETH,” or wrapped Ethereum. The network was taken offline to prevent any further attacks.
Blockchain security firm CertiK said this is the largest attack on the Solana network and the second biggest DeFi (decentralised finance) hack to date, and comes just after hackers made off with $80 million from DeFi protocol Qubit Finance.
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The breaches may bolster regulators' push for crackdowns in the space.
The vulnerability has since been patched, but the network is yet to come back online.
At the time of writing, the website reads: “We're actively working to get Portal back up and running. A fix has been deployed and all funds are safe.”
Wormhole holds more than $1 billion in deposited funds, and supports six blockchains: Terra, Solana, Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Avalanche and Polygon.
The bridge acts as a protection during asset transfers, locking it and then minting a wrapped version, such as the wrapped ether (wETh) involved in the hack, to its final chain.
Such bridges are common in DeFi, as few people use just one blockchain.
A Wormhole admin, under the username d231d, wrote on Telegram that, “as soon as the network is back up, you will be able to redeem the tokens you sent into the bridge.”
According to blockchain analytics company Elliptic, Wormhole offered the attacker $10 million to return the funds.
The company also estimates that DeFi services have lost more than $2 billion due to hacks and exploits.
This latest hack is an "unfortunate reality" for decentralized finance, claims CertiK.
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