Shiba Inu Team Freezes 4.6M BONE Tokens After Bridge Exploit

The Shiba Inu ecosystem faced a major security scare this week when hackers launched an attack on the Shibarium bridge. Thanks to quick intervention by the developers, 4.6 million BONE tokens linked to the exploit were frozen before the hackers could withdraw them. 

Discovery of Shibarium Exploit Leads to Token Freeze

The incident was first flagged by PeckShield, a blockchain security firm, which noticed suspicious activity on the Shibarium bridge. 

Soon after, lead developer Kaal Dhairya confirmed that the team was investigating. The attackers used a flash loan exploit and stole validator keys to seize control of the network and try to drain the bridge assets.

However, the 4.6 million BONE tokens were staked on Validator 1 and locked, making them unavailable for withdrawal. This allowed the developers to freeze them before further movement. To reduce additional risks, the team temporarily suspended staking functions across the Shibarium network.

Freezing the 4.6 million BONE tokens gave investors some relief. In fact, BONE’s price jumped by 41% in the last 24 hours as confidence in the project held strong.

Shiba Inu Team Boosts Security and Opens Talks with Hacker

In response, the Shiba Inu developers transferred their stake manager funds into a hardware wallet secured by multisig protection. They also began a full audit of validator keys to check for weaknesses. 

To strengthen their defense, they are working with three leading security firms, including Hexens, Seal 911, and PeckShield. Additionally, authorities were also informed about the breach. The developers emphasized that protecting community assets remains their top priority.

In an unusual move, the Shiba Inu team spoke directly to the hacker. They said they would not take legal action and even offered a reward if the hacker gave back the stolen tokens. Offering hackers bounty deals to return stolen funds is becoming more common in crypto. This approach fast-tracks recovering siphoned funds and reduces losses for their users.

Shiba Inu Warns of Scams, Pushes Upgrades Amid Security Risks

This incident follows a separate warning the Shiba Inu team issued about scam attempts on Discord. Fraudsters used expired invitation links to lure users into fake servers. Victims were then asked to verify their wallets, which led to entire balances of SHIB and other tokens being stolen within minutes.

Apart from security issues, the team also shared updates on new projects. They plan to move the LEASH token to LEASH V2 using a fixed ratio so holders can switch smoothly. ShibaSwap also got a big upgrade to make trading across different blockchains easier and to manage liquidity better. This update makes Shiba Inu stronger in decentralized finance.

The Shibarium hack shows the bigger security risks in crypto. In August, Arkham reported the largest Bitcoin theft ever, over 127,000 BTC stolen from a Chinese mining pool.