Orbit Chain Bridge was Hacked for 81.5 Million USD

Orbit Chain bridge was hacked for 81.5 million USD

Orbit Bridge is a cross-chain bridging protocol, experienced a drain of $81.5 million in the early hours of this morning (01/01/2024).

Orbit Chain hacked: attacker took 81.5M USD. Source: Arkham Intelligence.

The incident was discovered by the Twitter account Kgjr and shared by various other blockchain security entities.

Looks like orbit bridge is getting drained right now, different fresh wallets for wbtc usdt usdc and dai, test tx’s showup on orbit bridge scanner but bigger ones doesnt. Wallets bellow pic.twitter.com/zlUbT0HrO2

— Kgjr (clueless333) (@KGJRTG) December 31, 2023

The initial loss of @Orbit_Chain is ~$81.5M (comprising $30 million $USDT, $10 million $USDC, $10 million DAI, 230.879 $WBTC, and 9,500 $ETH)

The exploiter initially funded with 10 $ETH from #TornadoCash and transferred them through the intermediary address… pic.twitter.com/XG62An0V91

— PeckShield Inc. (@peckshield) January 1, 2024

In five separate transactions, each sent to a different wallet address, the attacker transferred $50 million in stablecoins (including $30 million USDT, $10 million DAI, and $10 million USDC), 231 wBTC ($10 million), and 9,500 ETH ($21.5 million).

This bridge solution has a close connection to the Klaytn ecosystem. On-chain data reveals that 9 out of the top 10 tokens on this network are wrapped assets from Orbit Bridge, indicating assets from other blockchains have been converted or transferred to Klaytn through Orbit.

The precise motive of the attack is still unclear, and Orbit Chain has yet to issue an official statement regarding the hack.

Launched in South Korea in 2018, Orbit Chain is a blockchain primarily focused on facilitating asset transfers between decentralized networks. Orbit Bridge is a popular bridge for converting assets between EVM-compatible networks and Klaytn.

Related: LayerZero Confirmed Its Mainnet Launch in January, Token Launch in the First Half of 2024

According to statistics, hacks, scams, and security attacks in 2023 resulted in damages amounting to $1.95 billion for the cryptocurrency industry. Cross-chain bridge projects continue to be major targets, often holding significant user assets.