AFX Trade Exploited for $24 Million in Bridge Attack on Arbitrum

AFX Trade, a protocol on Arbitrum (ARB), lost roughly 24.15 million USDC (USDC) on July 22 after an attacker exploited a bridge it operates.

Security firm Blockaid flagged the attack at 21:30 UTC. It marks the 14th crypto security incident recorded in July, a month that has already surpassed June’s hack losses.

Attacker Drains 24 Million USDC From AFX-Operated Bridge

The exploit targeted a bridge run by AFX, not the Arbitrum network itself. Blockaid detected the drain and began coordinating a response with the Arbitrum team.

The attacker then moved the stolen USDC from Arbitrum to Ethereum (ETH). Blockchain security firm PeckShield reported the funds were swapped into 12,467.5 ETH.

It traced the converted ETH to a single wallet, 0x6276…ebAC. The tally reflects funds drained so far, and the figure could still shift as the flow is tracked.

Offchain Labs co-founder Steven Goldfeder addressed the incident directly. He drew a firm line between AFX’s bridge and Arbitrum’s core infrastructure.

“We’re aware of a report of a bridge hack on Arbitrum and are investigating. We can confirm that the transaction in question originated from a third party protocol, and the Arbitrum native bridge has not been hacked or exploited in any way,” he said.

 

A Rough Month for Crypto Security

The AFX breach comes amid a costly stretch for the sector. It follows a string of similar cross-chain attacks that have drained protocols through their bridge layers.

Data from DefiLlama showed 13 hacks across various protocols in July, prior to this incident, totaling $72.6 million in losses. The AFX exploit brings the count to 14.

The incident also pushes the July total to roughly $97 million. The figure already surpasses the $75.32 million in losses from hacks in June.

The coming days should reveal whether the protocol can freeze or recover any of the stolen funds.

Source: https://beincrypto.com/afx-arbitrum-bridge-exploit-24m/