The Exactly Protocol, a decentralized crypto lending platform built on Optimism, fell victim to a bridge exploit resulting in a loss of approximately $12 million worth of ETH earlier today.
Security firm DeFi reported that the hacker exploited a contract on Ethereum, transferring deposits to Optimism before eventually moving the stolen assets back to Ethereum.
Following the bridge exploit, the total value locked (TVL) on the protocol experienced a significant drop. TVL went from $36 million to under $26 million, as indicated by DeFi Llama data.
In response to the exploit, the protocol’s native governance token (EXA) also suffered a decline of over 15%, currently trading at $4.91.
Cross-chain bridges have increasingly become targets for hackers due to their relatively new technology. Last year, bridge-related hacks reportedly resulted in losses exceeding $2 billion, according to Chainalysis.
Acknowledging the hack, the DeFi protocol issued a tweet stating that they are actively investigating the security issue within the protocol. They also announced a temporary pause in the protocol’s operations for user safety, though asset withdrawals remain possible.
“At the moment, the protocol is temporarily paused (withdrawals still possible) due to a security investigation. Our team is addressing the situation and will provide more information soon.”
The hack comes amid a broader downturn in the cryptocurrency market. Leading altcoins like XRP, LTC, and BCH experienced significant double-digit declines, while Bitcoin briefly dropped to around $25,200 before making a slight recovery.
The market downturn resulted in the liquidation of nearly $1 billion worth of positions within a 24-hour period, causing widespread losses.
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Ongoing cross-bridge exploits have become a growing concern for the crypto industry. Earlier, Hundred Finance, a lending and borrowing DeFi protocol on the Optimism network, suffered a major hack on April 15, resulting in the loss of $7 million worth of crypto assets.
