Taiko, an Ethereum layer-2 network, halted block production after an attacker exploited its bridge to steal about $1.7 million. The team urged users to withdraw funds from all bridges on the network.
The exploit occurred earlier Monday when the attacker forged cross-chain proofs to drain the bridge and its token vault. Taiko estimated the losses at roughly $1.7 million before stopping outflows.
The chain's TAIKO token, with a market capitalization of $14.5 million, slumped more than 20 percent since midnight UTC. Security firm BlockSec traced the likely cause to a signing key for Raiko that was left publicly accessible on GitHub.
Taiko asked centralized exchanges to suspend deposits of its token during the investigation. By about 2 a.m. ET the exploit had been contained, with the attacker moving about 2 million TAIKO tokens worth roughly $170,000 to an account on the MEXC exchange.
The incident used the same cross-chain messaging flaw behind more than $340 million in bridge hacks this year. Taiko, which started on Ethereum in May 2024, said it will release a full incident report.
