Nomad loses $109 million worth of tokens to exploitation

Renowned cross-chain protocol, Nomad bridge, has now been exploited. Nomad confirmed the security breach in a Twitter post. Reportedly, the token bridge became the latest victim of security exploitation after a suspected hacking team siphoned a huge amount of tokens from its network.

DeFi tracking platform DefiLlama reported that over $190.7 worth of tokens were carted away from the bridge. DefiLlama further states that the aftermath of the exploitation leaves $651.54  remaining in the wallet.

Preliminary reports indicate that the exploitation began with a single transaction around 9:32 pm UTC. The hackers, as revealed, first siphoned 100 Wrapped Bitcoin, valued at $2.3 million tokens from the bridge. Afterward, the hackers proceeded to siphon Wrapped Ether (wETH), USD Coin (USDC), Frax (FRAX), Covalent Query Token (CQT), and other tokens, totaling $190.7 million.

Shortly after the exploitation, Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) Hub Evmos vowed to support Nomad during this trying period. Recall that Evmos is one of the numerous blockchains supported by Nomad. In a Twitter post, the protocol promised to collaborate with other community participants to aid the recovery of funds stolen from the Nomad bridge. According to the EVM hub, the exploitation of the bridge inflicted dire consequences on its network.

Notably, Nomad says it has commenced an investigation to unravel the circumstances behind the breach. It, however, warns members of its community against falling prey to any impostor promising a refund on behalf of the protocol. According to the token bridge, no refund strategy is in place yet. Nomad hinted that its major focus now is to investigate the exploitation.

To achieve this, the cross-chain protocol has now collaborated with various security firms to probe the attack. Nomad also confirmed that it had briefed law enforcement agencies on the exploitation. The protocol intends to identify the accounts involved in the exploitation in a bid to recover the siphoned funds. It, however, promised to keep updating the general public as the investigation unfolds.

China-based blockchain analysis firm Peckshield hinted that numerous accounts took part in the exploitation. Peckshield further that one of the hackers had recently inflicted attacks on several DeFi platforms, including Rari Capital and Fei Protocol. Reportedly, the exploitations carried out last April led to a total loss of over $80 million.

As of the time of filing this report, one of the suspected exploiters has reached out to Nomad. In a Twitter post, the individual, “Notifi Bot,” described the attack as white exploitation, promising to return. the siphoned funds. According to Notifi Bot, “This is a white hack. I plan to return the funds”.

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