- Attackers used an AFX-powered bridge within Arbitrum and stole around $24.15 million worth of USDC and converted it into Ether.
- This brought the total losses due to hacks in July to around $97 million, surpassing that of June.
A new and significant hack on a bridge system is just another problem in the string of problems affecting the crypto world this month. AFX Trade, which runs on Arbitrum, lost $24.15 million worth of USDC. Attackers exploited AFX’s bridge, and several blockchain security firms detected the attack almost immediately. They have been tracking the transaction of the hacked money on various blockchain networks. Offchain Labs confirmed that attackers exploited AFX’s bridge without compromising Arbitrum’s native bridge.
Blockaid detected an exploit at 2026-07-22 21:30 UTC targeting @AFX_XYZ, a protocol on @arbitrum. The exploit was specific to a bridge that AFX operates. Approximately 24.15M USDC has been drained thus far from the protocol.
Our team has been working with the incredible folks on… https://t.co/0Qd9ve5gPB
— Blockaid (@blockaid_) July 22, 2026
The breach was spotted by blockchain security firm Blockaid at around 21:30 UTC on July 22, after which they began working together with Arbitrum on their investigation. The hacker moved the stolen money to the Ethereum blockchain shortly after hacking the system. As a result, according to PeckShield security experts, the hacker converted the hacked money into roughly 12,467.5 ETH, moving the entire amount into one single wallet address.
Arbitrum Confirms Safety of Its Native Bridge
The hack caused significant concern across the Arbitrum community, since bridge hacks often sow doubt about blockchain technology itself. Steven Goldfeder, co-founder of Offchain Labs, stated clearly that hackers managed to compromise a bridge created by AFX, but not the official Arbitrum bridge. Goldfeder said that there was no attack or compromise of the native Arbitrum bridge. This clarification was very important for distinguishing the problem associated with the protocol from the safety of the Arbitrum blockchain network.
We’re aware of a report of a bridge hack on Arbitrum and are investigating. We can confirm that the transaction in question originated from a third party protocol, and the Arbitrum native bridge has not been hacked or exploited in any way.
We will coordinate with the third…
— Steven Goldfeder (@sgoldfed) July 22, 2026
Bridge Hacks Keep On Leading To Losses For Cryptocurrencies
This latest hack is one in many that has made the security situation in the decentralized finance community very difficult this month. Before the AFX hack, DefiLlama reported 13 cryptocurrency hacks in July, resulting in a total loss of around $72.6 million. The AFX bridge hack is the 14th one to take place in July, bringing the total July losses to about $97 million.
This loss has already surpassed the $75.32 million lost in June in various cryptocurrency hacks. This recent hack also highlights the ongoing pattern of hackers targeting bridges between blockchains rather than attacking the protocol directly. Investigations have begun for the Ethereum that was stolen, waiting to see if recovery becomes possible at all.
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