Symbiosis Recovers 15 BTC After Bitcoin Bridge Exploit, Offers Hacker a Bounty Deal

Cross chain protocol Symbiosis says it has recovered around 15 Bitcoin following a security breach targeting its Bitcoin Bridge, and is now offering the attacker a reward in exchange for returning the remaining funds.

Details of the Exploit

The attack occurred on September 11, when a vulnerability in the Bitcoin Bridge was exploited. Symbiosis responded by halting its native bitcoin routes and isolating the affected system, while other blockchain networks connected to the platform continued operating normally.

Recovered Funds and Bounty Offer

The recovered bitcoin, worth over one million dollars at current prices, is being held in a secure multisig wallet controlled by the project’s team. Symbiosis is offering the attacker a bounty equal to twenty percent of the funds if returned within a set window, after which the same reward will be offered to anyone who helps recover the remaining assets.

Massive Token Minting Detected

Security researchers separately identified that the exploit resulted in the creation of an extremely large and unauthorized amount of wrapped bitcoin tokens on another blockchain network. Despite the enormous quantity minted, the attacker was only able to convert a small portion into real value, resulting in relatively limited financial gain.

This incident follows a series of similar cross chain bridge exploits this year, where attackers have managed to mint large volumes of unauthorized tokens but ultimately extracted only a fraction of their theoretical value.