Harmony (One) plunges as Horizon Bridge suffers System Attack, loses $100m
- As a result of the attack on Horizon, Harmony (One) the native token of the blockchain has lost a significant value, the token has plunged by 11% as of the early hours of today.
Earlier today Harmony’s Horizon cross-chain bridge became a victim of a cyber-attack that cost the firm close to $100 million. The Harmony team made the revelation via its Twitter page with promises to mend the lapses. Accordingly, the team made promises to work with relevant authorities to determine the severity of the attack. Also, the Harmony team has commenced on a recovery road to regaining the funds lost to the attack.
The hacker initiated the attack at 7:08 am, carrying out over 11 transactions from then till 7:26 am. The stolen funds were in altcoins which prompted the hack to swap them for Ethereum on Uniswap Decentralized Exchange. To complete the mischievous act, the hacker then returned the tokens to the initial wallets.
At the moment, the team has disclosed the address of the hacker which will further make the recovery quite easy. Meanwhile, Horizon beseeched trading platforms to halt the Horizon Bridge in other to prevent more transactions. However, it also emphasized that funds in the trustless BTC bridge are safe and intact. According to the post, funds in the BTC bridge are stored in a different decentralized vault. Initially, the Horizon Bridge works as a platform that aids the exchange of tokens among Harmony, Ethereum Network, Bitcoin, and Binance Chain.
The implication of the attack on Horizon Bridge
Horizon promised to keep its community with relevant updates as the investigation proceeds. As a result of the attack, Harmony (One) the native token of the blockchain has lost a significant value. According to Price Data Provider, Coingecko, the token has plunged by 9% as of the early hours of today. Lately, the cryptocurrency sphere has overtly become a target for hackers who are maliciously looting different platforms. The incessant attacks have criticized the vulnerability of platforms in the industry to cyber exploitation. Thus, prompting investors to have second thoughts before plunging their investment into the sector. The increasing exploitation also has been a major point of concern for regulators.
In particular, Token bridges are gradually growing worries of stakeholders in the cryptocurrency industry. Early this year, the co-founder of Ethereum submitted that these platforms have security boundaries. The complex technology innovation behind them hasn’t helped the situation, which makes them vulnerable to cyber exploitation. Around February of this year, hackers attacked the Wormhole bridge, looting about $300 million of virtual tokens. Additionally, in March 2022, the Ronin sidechain of the popular play-to-earn online game, Axie Infinity underwent exploitation of $650 million. This attack made headlines as the largest cyber attack on a DeFi Platform.
Overall, according to research, the total value of Ethereum Bridges currently stands at $11.7 billion with over 25,000 different investors. As of press time, the Horizon team hasn’t given more details regarding the attack. Members of the community are waiting for details from the team to know the fate of their investment.
Rebecca is a Senior Staff Writer at BitcoinWisdom, working hard to bring you the latest breaking news in the cryptocurrency market. In the words of Elon Musk “Buy stock in several companies that make products & services that *you* believe in. Only sell if you think their products & services are trending worse. Don’t panic when the market does. This will serve you well in the long-term.”
