Crypto bridge Horizon hacked for US$100m

ANOTHER cryptocurrency bridge – an app that lets people swap coins between blockchains – got hacked today, this one for US$100 million. 

Harmony said in a tweet the hack of its Horizon bridge took place on Thursday morning, and that it has “begun working with national authorities and forensic specialists to identify the culprit and retrieve the stolen funds.”

This is the third major bridge hack this year. In February, hackers stole more than US$300 million from the Wormhole bridge.

In late March, Ronin Bridge lost about US$620 million to hackers.

Even before the Harmony hack, money stolen from bridges exceeded US$1 billion, per researcher Chainalysis. 

Bridges are particularly vulnerable to hacks, as their technology is complex and they are often run by anonymous teams.

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The way they safeguard funds is often unclear. The amount of money locked on bridges connected to the Ethereum blockchain declined 60 per cent in the last 30 days, to less than US$12 billion, per tracker Dune.

This has been triggered by a wider crypto market slump and liquidity concerns surrounding lender Celsius Network and crypto-focused hedge fund Three Arrows Capital. BLOOMBERG