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THORChain exploit turns emergency chain halt into a DeFi trust test
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A suspected multichain THORChain exploit and emergency halt have shifted attention from the immediate loss figure to DeFi’s cross-chain trust model.
Key facts
- Another security estimate put the loss near $10 million, including 36.75 BTC and about $7 million across BNB Chain, Ethereum, and Base
- One public alert described the likely exploit affecting Bitcoin, Ethereum, BSC, and Base, resulting in more than $10.7 million in losses, revised from an earlier $7.4 million estimate
- Federal investigators attributed the February 2025 Bybit theft of about $1.5 billion in virtual assets to North Korea's TraderTraitor activity
- The broader crypto market stood near $2.61 trillion with Bitcoin dominance at 60.2%
Summary
THORChain’s suspected multichain exploit and emergency halt on May 15 has turned into another DeFi security incident, and another test of cross-chain trust. Emergency controls moved through chain-specific halts, Halt All Trading, Halt Signing, Halt Chain Global, Halt Churning, and repeated global node-pause updates. One public alert described the likely exploit affecting Bitcoin, Ethereum, BSC, and Base, resulting in more than $10.7 million in losses, revised from an earlier $7.4 million estimate. Another security estimate put the loss near $10 million, including 36.75 BTC and about $7 million across BNB Chain, Ethereum, and Base.