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PeckShield Reports $328.6 Million Lost in Eight Major Cross-Chain Bridge Hacks

PeckShield Reports $328.6 Million Lost in Eight Major Cross-Chain Bridge Hacks

According to PeckShield, eight major bridge-related incidents from February 2026 to mid-May 2026 caused about $328.6 million in losses, though the Adshares attacker later returned 256 ETH, recovering roughly 86% of that exploit’s stolen funds.

ETH

Fact Check
All core elements of the claim are directly verified by PeckShield's own official X posts. The primary source (PeckShieldAlert X post status/2056227303596957818) explicitly confirms 8 major bridge-related exploits totaling $328.6M as of mid-May 2026. The Adshares-specific detail - 256 ETH returned representing ~86% of stolen funds - is confirmed by a separate PeckShield post (status/2056335190709223428), which also aligns with PANews reporting. The time window of February to mid-May 2026 is consistent with PeckShield's framing. Multiple independent outlets (PANews, Odaily, Cointelegraph, CryptoAdventure) corroborate the figures without contradiction. The only minor nuance is that the Adshares recovery amount is described as ~$540.7K (~86% of ~$628K), which the claim rounds to 'roughly 86%' - fully consistent. No conflicting evidence was found.
Summary

Blockchain security firm PeckShield said at least eight major security incidents involving cross-chain bridges resulted in about $328.6 million in stolen funds between February 2026 and mid-May 2026, underscoring persistent risks in multi-chain infrastructure. One of those incidents was the Adshares bridge exploit on May 17, 2026, which caused about $628,000 in losses. PeckShield later reported that the attacker returned 256 ETH, worth about $540,700, to a project deployment address, recovering roughly 86% of the stolen amount. The developments highlight both the recurring vulnerability of bridge systems, which move assets between blockchains and often hold concentrated liquidity, and the partial recovery in a specific case.

Terms & Concepts
  • Cross-chain bridge: A protocol that enables assets or data to move between separate blockchains, typically by locking tokens on one network and issuing a corresponding asset on another.
  • Bridge exploit: An attack on cross-chain bridge infrastructure that moves assets between blockchain networks, often by abusing smart contract or validation weaknesses.
  • Project deployment address: A blockchain address associated with launching or managing a protocol’s smart contracts or related on-chain infrastructure.