HKAN | Sep 14

Shiba Inu developers have taken swift action to mitigate the impact of a recent exploit targeting the Shibarium bridge. The attack, identified by blockchain security firm PeckShield, involved a flash loan exploit that allowed attackers to acquire 4.6 million BONE tokens. These tokens were used to compromise 10 out of 12 validator signing keys, granting the attackers majority control over the Shibarium network. With this control, the attackers attempted to drain assets from the bridge, including approximately 224.57 ETH and 92.6 billion SHIB tokens. Additionally, KNINE tokens worth about $700,000 were seized from the K9 Finance DAO project within the Shibarium ecosystem.

Fortunately, the stolen BONE tokens remained locked due to their delegation to Validator 1, which had not yet unstaked them. This technical safeguard allowed the Shiba Inu team to freeze the tokens before they could be moved or sold.

In response to the breach, the Shiba Inu team has implemented several emergency measures:

Suspended staking functions across the Shibarium network.
Transferred funds from proxy contracts to a secure multisignature hardware wallet.
Initiated a comprehensive investigation in collaboration with security firms Hexens, Seal 911, and PeckShield.

The team has also offered to negotiate with the attackers, promising no legal action if the stolen funds are returned.

Despite the exploit, the price of BONE tokens surged by over 40% within 24 hours following the emergency freeze, indicating continued investor confidence in the Shiba Inu ecosystem.

The Shiba Inu team has pledged to restore validator keys once the network's integrity is confirmed and to continue working with partners to freeze assets linked to the hacker. A full incident report will be published upon completion of the investigation.