Hackers raid another crypto bridge in $7 Million take down
Blockchain itself is generally secure, but the bridges that link different blockchains together, well that's a different story.
Key takeaways
- De.Fi initially suspected that upwards of $12 million worth of ETH was swiped, but then updated with revised data.
- Optimism is an Ethereum scaling network built to enable faster and cheaper transactions than Ethereum’s own mainnet.
- Exactly held over $36 million in total value locked (TVL) at the time of the hack, DeFi Llama data shows, but this figure has since dropped to $10 million.
Cite or link to this article
Griffin, M. (2023) 'Hackers raid another crypto bridge in $7 Million take down', 311 Institute, 14 November. Available at: https://www.311institute.com/hackers-raid-another-crypto-bridge-in-7-million-take-down/ (Accessed: 1 October 2026).
Continuing the trend, another Decentralised Finance (DeFi) protocol bridge has been hacked, according to the project and various security firms. Exactly, a credit market on the Optimism network, said early Friday that it was “actively investigating a security issue within our protocol.” It added that the protocol was temporarily paused, but users could still withdraw assets.
Security firm PeckShield said on Twitter that it had “detected an ongoing attack.” Furthermore, blockchain security firm De.Fi said on Twitter that hackers made away with 4,323.6 Ethereum - or $7.2 million worth. De.Fi initially suspected that upwards of $12 million worth of ETH was swiped, but then updated with revised data.
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Like most crypto bridge attacks – cyber attacks that target the blockchain bridges that connect different blockchain networks together - hackers were able to exploit a vulnerability in Exactly’s smart contracts to take the ETH, according to De.Fi. Optimism is an Ethereum scaling network built to enable faster and cheaper transactions than Ethereum’s own mainnet.
Exactly held over $36 million in total value locked (TVL) at the time of the hack, DeFi Llama data shows, but this figure has since dropped to $10 million.
Exploits like this one are increasingly common in the DeFi space - the crypto sphere which aims to replace traditional financial services like borrowing and lending.
Protocols like Exactly are relatively new and experimental, and therefore sometimes have vulnerabilities that hackers can take advantage of through exploits. Last year was “the biggest year ever for hacking” in the crypto space, according to blockchain data firm Chainalysis, and many of the attacks happened in the DeFi world.
Bridges, or protocols that facilitate the exchange of different cryptocurrencies across multiple blockchains, are particularly vulnerable to hacks. This is in part due to the sheer amount of liquidity available: tokens are frozen on one side of the blockchain and then unfrozen from the other side, meaning they’re locked in smart contracts in the middle. Bridges also provide another attack vector that may not be as thoroughly tested as the blockchains they're connected to.
FAQ
Why does this matter?
Blockchain itself is generally secure, but the bridges that link different blockchains together, well that's a different story.
About the author
Matthew Griffin Founder, 311 Institute
Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath."
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Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath." 15-time best selling author of the "Codex of the Future" series, Matthew is the Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working with royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77 governments, NGOs, and multi-national mid and mega cap firms to help them explore, shape, and lead the next 50 years of business and society.
An award-winning YouTube creator with over a million followers, with an unrivalled global reach and impact, Matthew is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker, lecturer, and mentor who collaborates with global leaders through the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to shape pivotal initiatives such as the UN’s AI for Humanity program, the United Nations Conference of the Parties (UN COP), and the World Economic Forum in Davos.
As the former Global Head of Cloud, National Security, and Enterprise Sales for companies including Atos, Dell-EMC, and IBM, Matthew has a proven track record of building multi-billion dollar business units and turning failing divisions into market leaders. His ability to identify, analyse, and communicate the implications of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends is unparalleled, and his insights are trusted by many of the world’s most respected organisations, including ABB, Accenture, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi, Coca-Cola, Dentons, Deloitte, Dow Jones, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, Siemens AG and Siemens Energy, T-Mobile, UBS, VISA, Walmart, Workday, Worldpay and many others.
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Sources and further reading
- PeckShield twitter.com
- Exactly defillama.com
Source: first published by the 311 Institute on 14 November 2023. Cite as: Griffin, M. (2023). Hackers raid another crypto bridge in $7 Million take down. 311 Institute. https://www.311institute.com/hackers-raid-another-crypto-bridge-in-7-million-take-down/
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