Hyperbridge (CRYPTO: $BRIDGE) has raised its loss estimate from a recent hack to $2.5 million U.S., which is 10 times greater than $237,000 U.S. initially.
The Token Gateway exploit that recently occurred on Hyperbridge’s Polkadot-native (CRYPTO: $DOT) protocol was much worse than initially thought.
Hyperbridge is a decentralized cross-chain interoperability protocol that facilitates communications and transfers between blockchains such as Ethereum (CRYPTO: $ETH) and Polygon (CRYPTO: $MATIC).
• Ripple, The Company Behind XRP, Is Valued At $50 Billion
Early reporting regarding the hack had centered on a relatively limited impact tied to the dumping of newly minted bridged DOT.
However, the revised assessment captures a broader, multi-chain footprint and shows that the
attack unfolded in two stages, Hyperbridge said on social media.
An initial extraction of roughly 245 ETH tokens was followed about an hour later by a forged cross-chain message that bypassed proof verifications.
Through this loophole, the attacker was able to mint approximately 1 billion bridged DOT tokens and sell them into available liquidity.
The exploit was contained to Hyperbridge’s Token Gateway. Native DOT tokens on the Polkadot network were not impacted, according to the latest update.
Bridging through Token Gateway is still paused, with services set to resume only after a patch is deployed and independently audited, said Hyperbridge.
Hyperbridge added that a significant portion of the exploited funds has been traced onchain and routed to the Binance cryptocurrency exchange.
Exact recovery timelines are not known but expected to be long, said Hyperbridge. The team said meaningful asset recovery in incidents of this type can take months.