In a hack of Horizon, from start-up Harmony, criminals stole about a hundred million dollars in cryptocurrency.
Another week, another heist on a crypto platform. This time the victim is Horizon, a so-called ‘blockchain bridge’. Such a platform works as an ‘exchange service’ for cryptocurrencies on various blockchains. You can exchange your ethereum for dogecoin, for example.
Harmony, the company behind the bridge, tweeted that attackers had infiltrated the platform and made off with $100 million in cryptocurrencies. Harmony says his bitcoin bridge was not hit by the attack and his funds are safe. The company is working with the police to try to recover the money.
Blockchain bridges and other exchange platforms are a sought-after target for attackers. In March, another 600 million dollars in cryptocurrencies were stolen from the NFT game Axie Infinity, also via the ‘bridge’ that users have to pay out in different coins.