- The Gravity Bridge, a cross-chain bridge between Ethereum and Cosmos, was exploited for roughly $5.4 million, forcing validators to halt operations.
- Onchain analyst Specter and security firm PeckShield confirmed the theft, which included millions in USDC, WETH, and USDT.
- The incident highlights ongoing security challenges for decentralized bridges, which have suffered over $328 million in losses from major exploits in 2026 alone.
Gravity Bridge, a decentralized blockchain facilitating cross-chain transfers, was drained of approximately $5.4 million on Saturday, prompting its validators to halt the bridge entirely. Onchain analyst Specter first flagged the unusual outflows, revealing in a post on X that the bridge contract key may have been compromised.
Security firm PeckShield also confirmed the exploit, breaking down the stolen assets. The haul included about $4.3 million in USDC, 274 Wrapped Ether worth $553,000, and $434,000 in USDt.
The team behind Gravity Bridge acknowledged the incident on X without detailing the cause. “There was an unfortunate incident on Gravity,” the team wrote, instructing validators to halt their systems while the breach is investigated.
Unlike many centralized bridges, Gravity Bridge uses its full validator set to authorize transfers, making it one of the more decentralized designs. Its native token, Graviton (GRAV), traded at $0.0007053 following the news, according to CoinMarketCap data.
Bridge security remains a critical vulnerability for the DeFi sector, spooking institutional interest. Consequently, the Gravity Bridge incident is the eighth major bridge exploit of 2026, with cumulative losses reaching $328.6 million.
Major breaches like April’s $290 million KelpDAO attack, attributed to North Korea’s Lazarus Group, have caused significant capital flight. Following that incident, total value locked across DeFi fell from nearly $100 billion to around $86 billion in just two days.
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