Blockchain bridges fall into troubled waters

Another day, another hack – and another blockchain bridge burned.

When thieves stole an estimated $190 million from US crypto firm Nomad last week, it was the seventh hack of 2022 to target an increasingly important cog in the crypto machine: Blockchain “bridges” – strings of code that help move crypto coins between different applications.

So far this year, hackers have stolen crypto worth some $1.2 billion from bridges, data from London-based blockchain analysis firm Elliptic shows, already more than double last year’s total.

“This is a war where the cybersecurity firm or the project can’t be a winner,” said Ronghui Hu, a professor of computer science at Columbia University in New York and co-founder of cybersecurity firm CertiK.