A popular Ethereum ETH/USD and Solana SOL/USD bridge, Wormhole, lost more than $320 million after it was apparently attacked.
What Happened: The developers of the network that helps users move coins and non-fungible tokens between Solana and Ethereum’s networks confirmed that the network was “down for maintenance” while they investigated the “exploit.”
— Wormhole (@wormholecrypto) February 2, 2022
Earlier the project had tweeted that it was exploited for 120,000 wETH or wrapped ETH, worth $320 million.
In a more recent update, Wormhole said on Twitter that the vulnerability has been “patched.”
The vulnerability has been patched.
— Wormhole (@wormholecrypto) February 3, 2022
We are working to get the network back up as soon as possible.
See Also: How To Buy Ethereum (ETH)
Why It Matters: The Wormhole hack is Decentralized Finance’s second-largest exploit ever after the $600 million Poly Network heist, according to a CNBC report.
The incident is also the largest attack ever on Solana, a so-called Ethereum killer, which has been popular recently amid the buzz surrounding NFTs, DeFi, and smart contracts.
Cryptocurrency investor Ryan Sean Adams retweeted a recent post by Ethereum’s co-creator Vitalik Buterin where he said “it’s always safer to hold Ethereum-native assets on Ethereum or Solana-native assets on Solana than it is to hold Ethereum-native assets on Solana or Solana-native assets on Ethereum.”
Solana Wormhole bridge exploited for 120k ETH.
— RYAN SΞAN ADAMS - rsa.eth (@RyanSAdams) February 2, 2022
ETH on Solana no longer backed by real ETH.
Vitalik sounded the alarm bells less than 30 days ago.
No one's gloating.
No one's happy this happened.
But as an industry we can't keep taking shortcuts and ignoring security issues. https://t.co/piVF7MkOxK
In the same tweet, Buterin said “fundamental security limits of bridges” are a reason why he’s optimistic about a multi-chain blockchain ecosystem.
Price Action: At press time, over 24-hours, ETH traded 2.65% lower at $2,683.92, while SOL was down 9.1% at $98.87.
Read Next: A Different Kind Of 'Flippening:' Ethereum Overshadows Bitcoin In Transaction Fees In 2022
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