Verus-Ethereum Bridge Loses $11M in Hack on May 18, Raising Cross-Chain Security Risks

According to reports, the Verus-Ethereum Bridge suffered a $11 million hack on May 18, during which attackers stole 103.6 tBTC, 1,625 ETH, and 147,000 USDC, converting and consolidating the assets into a single wallet.

Cross-chain bridges have emerged as a major security vulnerability in the crypto ecosystem, with repeated attacks targeting their verification infrastructure. In April, the KelpDAO hack via LayerZero protocol resulted in a $292 million loss of rsETH tokens. Additionally, MAP Protocol halted its Butter Bridge on May 21 after discovering abnormal MAPO token minting via contract exploitation. Security experts warn that bridge vulnerabilities are evolving from simple code exploits to attacks on the trust systems underlying cross-chain messaging and asset validation.