The latest in a succession of cyber heists on a sector long targeted by hackers, US crypto company Harmony announced on Friday that criminals took around $100 million worth of digital currency from one of its core products.
Harmony creates non-fungible tokens and blockchains for so-called decentralized finance, or peer-to-peer platforms that provide loans and other services without the need for traditional gatekeepers like banks.
The California-based business claimed that the robbery targeted its Horizon “bridge,” a device for moving cryptocurrency across several blockchains, the basic technology behind virtual currencies like bitcoin and ether.
Businesses in the crypto industry have long been plagued by theft, with blockchain bridges becoming more frequently attacked. According to London-based blockchain analytics company Elliptic, almost $1 billion has been taken from bridges so far in 2022.
Without providing any additional information, Harmony tweeted that it was “working with national authorities and forensic professionals to locate the criminal and return the stolen monies.”
Email and social media inquiries for comment did not immediately receive a response from it.
According to Elliptic, which monitors publicly available blockchain data, the hackers stole many cryptocurrencies from Harmony, including ether, Tether, and USD Coin, which they then exchanged for ether via so-called decentralized exchanges.
Axie Infinity’s Ronin Bridge, which was used to transfer money in and out, was attacked by hackers in March, taking almost $615 million worth of cryptocurrency. One of the biggest thefts in history was connected by the US to North Korean hackers.
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