Hack history / 2026 / Hack or exploit

Verus-Ethereum Bridge

Hack or exploit on May 17, 2026 · Forged Proof

ATTACK TX CONFIRMED ON CHAINSOURCES AGREE ON DATE AND LOSS · 4 SOURCES

Lost

$11.6M

dollars at the time

Returned

$8.5M

73% of the loss, as a source states it

Rank

#270

among thefts by dollars lost

What happened

On May 17-18, 2026, the Verus-Ethereum bridge was exploited when an attacker forged a cross-chain payload that passed all cryptographic checks but lacked amount reconciliation between chains, converting ~$10 in VRSC fees into $11.58 million in Ethereum assets (103.6 tBTC, 1,625 ETH, 147,000 USDC).

Details

Date: May 17, 2026
Kind: Hack or exploit
Method: Forged Proof
How in: Bridge and cross-chain
Target: DeFi protocol
Chains: Verus, Ethereum

After the theft

Returned by the attacker: $8
“On May 22, PeckShield's monitoring revealed that the exploiter of the Verus cross-chain bridge has returned 4,052.4 ETH (valued at around $8.5 million) to the team's designated address.” (SlowMist Hacked)
Bounty paid: yes, amount not stated
“This recovery accounts for 75% of the total plundered funds, while the remaining 25% (approximately 1,350 ETH) is being retained in the hacker's wallet as a bug bounty.” (SlowMist Hacked)
Recovered or frozen: $8.5M
“$11.6M taken, $3.1M after recovery or freezing” (Web3 Is Going Great)

Reported by

Related incidents

Verus-Ethereum Bridge 2026 · Hack or exploit · $7.5M
Prysm consensus client bug causes Ethereum validators to lose over $1 million 2025 · Hack or exploit · $1.2M
Ethereum Foundation 2024 · Hack or exploit · undisclosed
Ethereum Foundation 2023 · Hack or exploit · $9K
Ethereum Alarm Clock 2022 · Hack or exploit · $260K

Cite this page

SwanBluechip, "Verus-Ethereum Bridge hack, May 17, 2026: $11.6M lost", Crypto hack history, https://swan-hack-tracker.pages.dev/history/i/ht1a34879d54/ (data as of 2026-11-01).

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