Hack history / 2026 / Hack or exploit
Axelar Secret IBC Bridge
Hack or exploit on Jun 10, 2026 · Unbacked Cross-Chain Mint
SOURCES AGREE ON DATE AND LOSS · 4 SOURCES
Lost
$4.7M
dollars at the time
Returned
none listed
as the sources state it
Rank
#467
among thefts by dollars lost
What happened
An attacker exploited the Axelar Secret bridge ics20-for-axelar contract to mint $4.67M of unbacked saTokens by forging IBC deposit packets from a malicious blockchain. The attacker created a minimal Cosmos blockchain with a single validator, opened a fake IBC channel to Secret Network, and sent forged deposit packets that bypassed channel validation. The minted tokens were redeemed back over the legitimate IBC channel to drain Axelar's escrow account, remaining undetected for seven days until a failed cross-chain transfer revealed the empty escrow.
Details
- Date
- Jun 10, 2026
- Kind
- Hack or exploit
- Method
- Unbacked Cross-Chain Mint
- How in
- Bridge and cross-chain
- Target
- DeFi protocol
- Chains
- Ethereum, Secret, Cosmos
Related incidents
Secret Network 2026 · Hack or exploit · $4.7M
Secret Network 2021 · Hack or exploit · undisclosed
Liquid Network 2026 · Hack or exploit · $320M
Nomic 2026 · Hack or exploit · $3.1M
Oraichain 2026 · Hack or exploit · $1M
Secret Network 2021 · Hack or exploit · undisclosed
Liquid Network 2026 · Hack or exploit · $320M
Nomic 2026 · Hack or exploit · $3.1M
Oraichain 2026 · Hack or exploit · $1M
Cite this page
SwanBluechip, "Axelar Secret IBC Bridge hack, Jun 10, 2026: $4.7M lost", Crypto hack history, https://swan-hack-tracker.pages.dev/history/i/ht9e2883ec5c/ (data as of 2026-11-01).