Blockchain security company BlockSec announced that Wanchain’s cross-chain bridge, which connects the Cardano and $BNB Chain networks, was cyberattacked, resulting in the theft of approximately 515 million $NIGHT tokens. Based on current market prices, the total value of the stolen assets is estimated to be around $10 million.
Following the attack, the project team and security companies began investigating the extent of the incident, while the Midnight Foundation also released a statement. The foundation emphasized that the security breach was limited to the Cardano-$BNB Chain bridge running on the Wanchain infrastructure and that the Midnight network’s own infrastructure was not affected. The statement clarified that the Midnight blockchain or its core protocol was not targeted, and that the issue was solely related to the bridge service.
Cross-chain bridges are among the critical infrastructures that enable asset transfers between different blockchain networks. However, similar bridges have been targeted by numerous cyberattacks in the past due to security vulnerabilities in smart contracts. Experts point out that such platforms remain one of the riskiest components in the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.
The impact of the attack on the market was felt quickly. Following the incident, which occurred during the night, the $NIGHT token experienced a sharp decline in value. According to CoinMarketCap data, the price of $NIGHT fell by approximately 30 percent, and at the time of writing, the token was trading at $0.01942, with a loss of 27.08 percent in the last 24 hours.
Authorities stated that work is ongoing to determine the technical details of the attack and track the stolen funds. Users were also advised to follow developments only through official project channels.
In recent years, attacks on blockchain bridges have caused billions of dollars in losses, and security experts are highlighting the importance of stricter controls on such infrastructure and comprehensive security testing of smart contracts. The Wanchain attack is also expected to bring the discussions about the security of cross-chain bridges back to the forefront.
*This is not investment advice.