Shiba Inu Under Siege: SHIB Team Hunts Attackers Following Major Bridge Exploit

SHIB's infrastructure takes a brutal hit as attackers compromise critical bridge security—sending shockwaves through the meme coin's ecosystem.

Behind the Breach

The team isn't just sitting back. They're actively tracing the perpetrators, leveraging blockchain forensics to follow the digital crumbs. This isn't some minor hiccup—it's a full-scale assault on Shiba Inu's cross-chain capabilities.

Market Fallout

Price action looks shaky. Investors are sweating, wondering if this breach will trigger another leg down. Meme coins live and die by sentiment, and right now, the vibe is defensive.

Security Wake-Up Call

Bridge vulnerabilities have long been crypto's Achilles' heel. This incident just underscores how even popular projects remain exposed. Maybe next time they'll invest in security before another round of celebrity endorsements.

Final Take

If SHIB pulls through this, it'll prove more than just hype. If not—well, another reminder that in crypto, sometimes the dogs don't bark, they get hacked.

Developer Confirms Attack Details

Taking to the social media platform X, Shiba Inu developer Kaal Dhairya revealed that the incident was probably planned for months and executed using a flash loan to acquire 4.6 million BONE tokens. After gaining access to validator signing keys, the attacker was able to gain majority control and approve a malicious state to siphon assets from the Shibarium bridge. Fortunately, the stolen BONE was delegated to Validator 1, leaving it locked by unstaking delays and giving the team a narrow opportunity to intervene.

Dhairya confirmed that the developers immediately froze the compromised funds, suspended all staking and unstaking activity, and transferred stake manager reserves into a hardware wallet secured by a 6/9 multisignature setup. However, the moves were temporary until the extent of the validator compromise could be confirmed, but the developer assured the community that protecting assets was the team’s top priority.

The breach drew quick attention from multiple blockchain security outfits. PeckShield, a leading blockchain security company, posted an Etherscan transaction showing the breach by the ShibaSwap exploiter on X. 

However, Kaal Dhairya noted that the Shiba Inu team is working with PeckShield, Hexens, and Seal 911 to continue investigations on the incident and the next steps to take.

According to a separate analysis by Tikkala Security on X, the losses appear to extend beyond the BONE freeze. The post claimed that multiple signer keys appear to have leaked in Shibaswap, which caused an estimated $2.8 million loss. Tikkala Security pointed to an attacker address on Etherscan and explained that the exploit involved repeatedly submitting legitimate Merkle leaf exit requests tied to a root signed by ten different addresses.

Market Impact And Price Outlook

Despite the severity of the breach, BONE’s market price spiked by over 20% in the hours following the freeze announcement, and this is likely due to the rapid containment. However, the BONE price has calmed, and the breach could have long-term effects that extend beyond the next few days. 

The Shibarium bridge is important to Shiba Inu’s strategy. Any lingering doubts about validator integrity or the scope of the losses could weigh heavily on the price of Shiba Inu and BONE.

As it stands, both the Shiba Inu and BONE prices have reversed gains in the past few hours. At the time of writing, BONE is trading at $0.1959, down by 4.4% in the past 24 hours, but still up by 24% from its price point seven days ago. Shiba Inu, on the other hand, is trading at $0.00001305, down by 7% in the past 24 hours.