Another Cross-Chain Bridge Exploited, Millions In Crypto Stolen: How It Happened To Exactly Protocol

Exactly Protocol EXA/USD, a decentralized credit market operating on the Optimism OP/USD network, fell victim to a bridge exploit, resulting in a staggering loss of more than $12 million.

According to the details shared by Web3 antivirus De.Fi on X, former known as Twitter, the exploitation strategy included the attackers funding an exploiter contract on the Ethereum network, transferring deposits to Optimism, and then bridging the stolen funds back to Ethereum.

The comprehensive list of bridged transactions related to this exploit can be found on Optimistic Etherscan.

Notably, 1,500 ETH was bridged using the Across Protocol.

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The total amount stolen from the Exactly Protocol is over 7,160 Ethereum ETH/USD, which equates to roughly $12,040,000.

De.Fi's investigation has identified two exploiter contracts and observed numerous calls to the function named "kick()."

The breach aligns with a notable slump in the broader digital currency sector, as assets like Ripple XRP/USD, Litecoin LTC/USD and Bitcoin Cash BCH/USD experienced sharp drops, resulting in the liquidation of around $1 billion within a day.

Cross-chain connectors have increasingly become targets for cybercriminals because of their emerging technology. Previous data from Chainalysis suggested that bridge-related cyberattacks led to losses exceeding $2 billion last year.

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