2024 Starts with $81.5 Million USD Hack of Orbit Chain Bridge
Orbit Chain's cross-chain bridge has become the first victim of an attack in the new year 2024, with estimated losses of approximately $81.5 million USD.
2024 Starts with $81.5 Million USD Hack of Orbit Chain Bridge. Photo: Orbit Chain
Orbit Bridge, a cross-chain bridge protocol, was drained of $81.5 million USD in the early hours of today (01/01/2024).
The attacker breached $81.5 million USD in assets on Orbit Chain. Source: Arkham Intelligence
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
— Clueless (@Clueless_333) 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)
— PeckShield Inc. (@peckshield) January 1, 2024
The exploiter initially funded with 10 $ETH from #TornadoCash and transferred them through the intermediary address… pic.twitter.com/XG62An0V91
The incident was detected by the account Kgjr on X (Twitter), and shared by many other blockchain security firms.
In five separate transactions, each sent to a different wallet address, the attacker transferred $50 million USD in stablecoins (including $30 million USDT, $10 million DAI, and $10 million USDC), 231 wBTC ($10 million USD), and 9,500 ETH ($21.5 million USD).
This bridge solution has close ties to the Klaytn ecosystem. On-chain data shows that 9 out of the top 10 tokens on this network are wrapped assets from Orbit Bridge, meaning assets from other blockchains have been converted or circulated to Klaytn via Orbit.
The exact motive behind the attack is still unclear, and Orbit Chain has not issued an official statement yet.
Launched in South Korea in 2018, Orbit Chain focuses primarily on the function of asset circulation between decentralized networks. Orbit Bridge is a popular bridge for converting assets between EVM-compatible networks and Klaytn.
Statistics show that hacks, scams, and security breaches in 2023 caused losses of up to $1.95 billion USD in the cryptocurrency industry. Cross-chain bridge projects, which often hold large amounts of user assets, continue to be frequent targets.
