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IoTeX Offers 10% Bounty After $4.3 Million Bridge Hack, Plans Upgrade

IoTeX promises a 10% reward for returning funds stolen in a February 21 breach of its ioTube cross-chain bridge, caused by a compromised Ethereum validator key.

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Summary

IoTeX has offered a 10% white-hat bounty worth approximately $440,000 for the return of $4.3 million stolen in a February 21 hack of its ioTube cross-chain bridge. The hack was traced to a compromised validator private key on the Ethereum side. IoTeX plans to roll out a mainnet upgrade (v2.3.4) with blacklist protections, though experts caution that recovering already swapped or bridged assets may prove difficult.

Terms & Concepts
  • Cross-chain bridge: Infrastructure that enables tokens or data to move between separate blockchains (asset transfer between blockchains).
  • Validator private key: A signing credential that authorizes actions for a validator node, including proposing or validating blocks; compromise can allow unauthorized transactions.
  • Confidential mode: A privacy feature that keeps balances and transaction details hidden within a network’s security framework, improving practical day‑to‑day on-chain usage.