Three bridge hacks drain $35.5M, revive DeFi security fears

The exploits come as the hacker behind the $285 million Drift Protocol heist resumed moving stolen funds. According to Onchain Lens, the attacker is sending ETH through the Tornado Cash mixer in 100 ETH batches, with multiple transactions executing each minute. The Drift hack earlier this year triggered a broad risk-off shift across DeFi, with TVL dropping to $65 billion in Q2.

DeFi total value locked had climbed by more than $10 billion in July, per DeFiLlama, the strongest monthly increase since the Q1-Q2 hack cycle that erased over $600 million. The fresh exploits inject uncertainty into that recovery.

Additional exploits or the Drift hacker liquidating stolen tokens would deepen the selloff, traders said. Compensation plans and security upgrades from the affected protocols would reduce the risk.

AFX and BSquared have not commented on whether they will compensate users. VerusCoin also has not responded. The Drift hacker's ongoing transfers through Tornado Cash suggest the stolen funds have not been frozen.