Cross-chain bridges are being hacked again! Axelar Network confirms $4.67 million stolen, urgently disconnects Secret Network connection

Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol Axelar Network Officially Confirms Security Incident, Approximately $4.67 Million in Tokens Stolen During Bridge to Secret Network. The official states the issue lies with the Secret-side smart contract, and has urgently disconnected the related connections and reported to law enforcement, emphasizing that Axelar's core protocol remains secure.
(Background: Privacy coin Aztec's smart contract was hacked, losing $2.19 million! SlowMist reveals "settlement bypass" vulnerability)
(Additional background: Hackers cracked 1,000 ETH locked since an ICO nine years ago, unlocking the smart contract to reclaim all funds)

Cross-chain bridge infrastructure once again becomes a target for hackers. The decentralized cross-chain communication protocol Axelar Network posted an emergency announcement on X platform, confirming a security vulnerability in its bridge connected to the privacy blockchain Secret Network, resulting in the theft of up to $4.67 million in crypto assets. The official has quickly activated response measures to prevent further damage.

We have identified an incident affecting assets bridged over IBC to Secret Network from the Axelar chain, with approximately $4.67M worth of tokens taken. Based on current information, the issue is isolated to the Secret-side ICS-20 smart contract of the Cosmos IBC connection…

— Axelar Network (@axelar) June 19, 2026

The vulnerability originates from the Secret-side contract, with the core protocol unaffected

According to Axelar's official statement, preliminary investigation shows that the vulnerability was precisely isolated to the ICS-20 smart contract on the Secret Network side, which is specifically used to handle assets bridged from Axelar via the Cosmos IBC protocol.

The official quickly reassured the community, emphasizing that the incident is limited to assets on the specific path mentioned. The announcement clearly states: "No other IBC connections or Secret native tokens are affected, and Axelar's other integrations remain unaffected; most importantly, Axelar's core protocol remains secure."

Emergency circuit breaker activated, law enforcement notified for investigation

After detecting abnormal fund flows, Axelar's emergency committee intervened immediately, fully disabling all cross-chain connections related to Secret and Secret-SNIP to prevent hackers from further transferring remaining funds.

Currently, the Axelar team is actively contacting major cryptocurrency exchanges to attempt to intercept and freeze the stolen funds, and has also reported the incident to relevant law enforcement agencies for investigation. The official states that a detailed post-mortem report will be released to the community to clarify the full technical details of the smart contract hack.

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