As investment in cryptocurrency grows, so does the incentive for criminal actors to exploit the DeFi (decentralized finance) space. Cross-chain bridge hacks have been the weapon of choice for crypto thieves in 2022. Bridge hacks have accounted for more than a billion dollars in stolen funds this year, according to research from blockchain analytics and compliance firm Elliptic. Cross-chain bridges allow assets to be moved between different blockchain protocols, meaning the networks contain a large concentration of crypto assets. The recent string of bridge attacks has caused some industry leaders to question whether the benefits of bridges outweigh their risks. A top analyst at Elliptic believes bridge hacks are just growing pains that DeFi will eventually surmount. Harmony, Sky Mavis, and Wormhole all suffered blockchain exploits exceeding $100 million this year. Mudit Gupta, Chief Information Security Officer at Polygon, believes bridge insecurity is an industry-wide problem.
Read more : Cross-chain Bridge Thefts Top $1B in 2022.
