In seven hours, hackers stole more than $31 million from cryptocurrency platforms

As a result of two unrelated attacks on cryptocurrency bridges, hackers stole assets with a total value of more than $31.6 million, tradingview.com reports, citing blockchain security companies.

The largest attack was directed against the bridge of the decentralized trading platform AFX on the Arbitrum network. The attacker withdrew approximately $24.15 million in USDC stablecoins, transferred the funds to the Ethereum main network and exchanged them for approximately 12,467 ETH (the cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain platform). The stolen cryptocurrency is concentrated in one wallet, which is monitored by specialists.

Preliminary investigations indicate that the hacker likely gained access to five validator private keys and thus obtained the required number of signatures to approve the transfer. The smart contract itself worked in accordance with the established rules. Offchain Labs founder Stephen Goldfeder emphasized that the main Arbitrum bridge was not hacked.

A few hours later, the Verus Ethereum Bridge system was attacked, from where assets worth approximately $7.5 million were withdrawn. In May, the same bridge had already lost about $11.6 million. Experts note that bridges connecting different blockchains remain one of the most vulnerable elements of the cryptocurrency infrastructure.