AFX Trade Hit for $24 Million in Arbitrum Bridge Exploit

Crypto protocol AFX Trade suffered a major security breach when an attacker drained roughly 24.15 million USDC from a bridge it operates on the Arbitrum network. Security firm Blockaid spotted the attack and immediately started working alongside the Arbitrum team to respond. Officials quickly clarified that the exploit targeted the third party bridge rather than the core Arbitrum infrastructure, leaving native network bridges secure.

After draining the funds, the attacker moved the stolen USDC over to Ethereum and swapped the stablecoins into more than 12,000 ETH. Blockchain analysts tracked the converted ether to a single wallet address, though the total impact might still grow as investigators trace the remaining transaction flows. Leaders from Offchain Labs confirmed they are actively looking into the situation while reassuring users that the main Arbitrum network remains safe.

This incident pushes July hack losses close to 97 million dollars, surpassing total losses recorded in June. Bridge security continues to pose a major challenge for the decentralized finance sector, as cross chain layers remain a frequent target for attackers. Traders and community members should watch for updates on whether the protocol can freeze or recover any of the stolen assets in the coming days.