Cross-Chain Protocol Orbit Bridge Hacked for $81.5M

​Orbit Bridge, the bridging service of the cross-chain protocol Orbit Chain, was hacked just three hours out before ringing in the new year, resulting in losses of $81.5 million. 

On December 31, anonymous Twitter user Kgjr drew attention to the potential exploit, pointing to a series of large outflows from the Orbit Chain Bridge protocol.

On January 1, 2024, Orbit Chain officially confirmed the attack, saying "An unidentified access to Orbit Bridge, a decentralized Cross-chain protocol, was confirmed on Dec-31-2023 08:52:47 PM +UTC."

According to data from Arkham Intelligence, a blockchain analytics platform, hackers have stolen assets totaling about $81.5 million. $30 million in Tether, $10 million in USD Coin, $21.7 million in Ether, $9.8 million in Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), and $10 million worth of the algorithmic stablecoin DAI, were all transferred to fresh wallets in five seperate transactions.

The Orbit Chain protocol has strong links to the Klaytn network (KLAY), a modular layer-1 blockchain. According to information from Klaytn's block explorer, nine of the Top 10 assets on the Klaytn network by total market cap are wrapped assets on the Orbit Bridge.