Justin Sun-linked Heco bridge and HTX exchange targeted in $100+ million crypto attack

Crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun confirmed that two platforms linked to him, the HTX exchange and Heco bridge, suffered an attack, saying:

“HTX and Heco Cross-Chain Bridge Undergo Hacker Attack. HTX Will Fully Compensate for HTX’s hot wallet Losses. Deposits and Withdrawals Temporarily Suspended. All Funds in HTX Are Secure, and the Community Can Rest Assured. We are investigating the specific reasons for the hacker attack. Once we complete the investigation and identify the cause, we will resume services.”

Blockchain security firm Cyvers Alerts estimated that the loss from the attack is more than $100 million. Meir Dolev, Cyvers Alerts’ chief technological officer, said:

“We are detecting multiple suspicious transactions on HTX_Global hot wallets and on HECO_Chain bridge that were probably executed by the same entity, total value of $100 million.”

The hack

According to multiple reports from blockchain security firms, Heco Bridge appears to have been drained of $87 million.

On-chain security firm CertiK reported the suspicious transfer of $87 million from the Heco bridge, adding that the funds were split into multiple wallets.

Another security firm, PeckShield, corroborated the outflow, saying that the incident was linked to a compromised operator, which has been operational since October last year.

The stolen assets include $346,994 TUSD stablecoin, more than 40,000 units of Chainlink’s LINK (over $600,000), $619,000 USDC, and 173,200 units of Uniswap’s UNI token (approximately $931,000).

Other assets involved in the theft are nearly 350 million SHIB tokens worth $2.8 million, 489 Heco-Peg Bitcoin valued at $18.8 million, $42 million USDT, and more than 10,000 ETH worth approximately $19 million.

Cyvers Alerts stated that all stolen assets have been converted to Ethereum and distributed to different externally owned accounts (EOAs).

The security firm added that HTX’s hot wallet appears to have been compromised by the same attacker, with $12.4 million moved from the platform.

Meanwhile, this attack represents the third major compromise of a Sun-linked platform recently. Earlier in the month, CryptoSlate reported that Poloniex, a crypto exchange purchased by the crypto entrepreneur in 2019, suffered a $100 million hack.

Before then, HTX was exploited for $7.9 million in September. However, the attacker returned all of the assets siphoned from the platform.