Ethereum-Solana Bridge Warmhole Exploited In A Massive $300 Million Hack

On Wednesday, February 2, one of the most popular crypto bridge networks connecting the Ethereum and the Solana blockchains has faced a massive hack of a staggering $320 million. Warmhole has appraised this event on its Twitter handle stating that the hackers managed to steal a staggering 120K wETH or wrapped Ether. The official announcement reads:

The wormhole network was exploited for 120k wETH. ETH will be added over the next hours to ensure wETH is backed 1:1. More details to come shortly. We are working to get the network back up quickly. Thanks for your patience.

This is yet another major hack in the DeFi industry showing the vulnerability of the cross-chain DeFi bridges. Speaking to Bloomberg, Dr Tom Robinson, co-founder of blockchain analysis firm Elliptic said:

“This demonstrates once again that the security of DeFi services has not reached a level that is appropriate for the huge sums being stored within them. The transparency of the blockchain is allowing attackers to identify and exploit major bugs.”

Soon after the hack, Warmhole has pulled down the network for maintenance. In their latest update, Warmhole mentions that the vulnerability has been patched.

The vulnerability has been patched.

We are working to get the network back up as soon as possible.

— Wormhole? (@wormholecrypto) February 3, 2022

Well, some market players also pointed out at a transaction worth 80,000 ETH out of a Warmhole address to an address that holds $250 million in ETH.

Following the news, Ether (ETH) is down 5% while Solana has plunged more than 12% to come back under $100.

Warmhole Trying to Repair the Damage

Warmhole developers are trying to reach out to the hacker a US$10 million bug bounty offer. However, it makes all users, DeFi protocols and other stakeholders on Warmohole at the mercy of the hacker now.

Last year in August 2021, the Jump Trading Group has purchased Warmhole developer Certus One. Certus One has been a key infrastructure provider for PoS blockchain networks including some big names like Ethereum 2.0, Solana, Terra, and Cosmos.

At the start of the year, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin had pointed out the vulnerability of cross-chain bridges. He stated:

My argument for why the future will be *multi-chain*, but it will not be *cross-chain*: there are fundamental limits to the security of bridges that hop across multiple “zones of sovereignty”.

About Author

Bhushan is a FinTech enthusiast and holds a good flair in understanding financial markets. His interest in economics and finance draw his attention towards the new emerging Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrency markets. He is continuously in a learning process and keeps himself motivated by sharing his acquired knowledge. In free time he reads thriller fictions novels and sometimes explore his culinary skills.