VerusEthereum Bridge Hack Drains $11.6 Million in Crypto

A cross-chain bridge connecting the Verus and Ethereum blockchains has been exploited, resulting in the loss of approximately $11.6 million in cryptocurrency. The attack, first detected on Sunday, drained a significant portion of the bridge's reserves before the Verus network was halted by its developers.

Blockchain security firms reported that the attacker stole 103.6 tBTC, 1,625 ETH, and 147,000 USDC from the bridge contract. These assets were subsequently swapped for roughly 5,402 ETH, which remained in a wallet controlled by the attacker. Investigators stated the attacker's address was initially funded with 1 ETH via the Tornado Cash mixer approximately 14 hours before the exploit.

Analysis from multiple security companies indicates the breach stemmed from a flaw in the bridge's validation logic. According to their reports, the attacker submitted a low-value transaction containing a cross-chain export from the Verus network. While the bridge successfully verified cryptographic components like notary signatures and Merkle proofs, it allegedly failed to validate that the source-chain transaction contained sufficient assets to justify the subsequent payout on Ethereum. This...