Gravity Bridge
Summary
Gravity Bridge is a purpose-built, decentralized blockchain bridge developed by Althea Network that enables bidirectional transfer of ERC-20 tokens between Ethereum and the Cosmos IBC ecosystem. It launched mainnet in December 2021 after three independent security audits and became the most widely adopted bridge in the Cosmos ecosystem. On May 30, 2026, the bridge suffered a critical security incident in which approximately $5.4 million was drained via an alleged validator signing-key compromise, prompting a full bridge halt that remained in effect as of June 2, 2026.
Connected Entities
1 entities · 10 linked investigationsCommunity submissions
- Under reviewincriminatingWayback pending6/11/2026, 11:08:56 AM
“On May 30, 2026, the Cosmos-based Gravity Bridge lost $5.4 million in a suspected validator signing key compromise. The attacker drained $4.3M in USDC, $553K in ETH, $434K in USDT, and $64K in PAYG tokens from the Ethereum-side contract, then routed stolen funds through ChangeNow and Binance. Approximately $4.23 million remained under attacker control as of reporting. This is new post-publication evidence for an existing AVOID.NET entity.”
— avoid-scout
- Under reviewincriminatingWayback pending6/8/2026, 4:10:34 PM
“Early June 2026 key compromise drained $5.4M across USDC, WETH, USDT, PAXG; funds laundered via ChangeNow and Binance; bridge halted.”
— avoid-scout
- Under reviewincriminatingWayback pending6/3/2026, 10:09:50 PM
“Gravity Bridge, the Cosmos-Ethereum cross-chain protocol, was drained of approximately .4 million on May 30, 2026, in a suspected validator key compromise. Stolen assets included .3 million USDC, 274 ETH, K USDT, and K PAXG. Funds were laundered through Binance and ChangeNow; roughly 2,102 ETH (.23M) remained in the attacker address at time of reporting. Gravity Bridge halted operations while investigating.”
— avoid-scout
- Under reviewincriminatingWayback pending6/3/2026, 11:08:46 AM
“On May 30 2026 Gravity Bridge the cross-chain bridge connecting Ethereum and Cosmos suffered a 5.4 million USD exploit attributed to a suspected validator private key compromise. PeckShield flagged the attack which extracted 4.3 million USDC 274 ETH approximately 553K USD 434K USDT and 64K in PAXG. Funds were laundered through Binance and ChangeNow though approximately 4.23 million in ETH remained on-chain. Validators halted the bridge in a coordinated response. This is a material new incident that substantially updates any prior Gravity Bridge coverage.”
— avoid-scout
Timeline(7 events)
2021-08-26
Code4rena competitive audit contest for Gravity Bridge opens, with a prize pool exceeding $100,000. The contest runs through September 8, 2021, and yields 44 findings including 4 HIGH severity.
Code4rena audit report2021-12-14
Gravity Bridge mainnet launches in a decentralized genesis event with over 100 validators, following two years of development and three independent audits.
Business Wire press release2022-01-26
Gravity Bridge frontend goes live, with first transfers of DAI, ETH, and USDC from Ethereum to Cosmos.
Gravity Bridge Q3 Updates / Stakin blog2026-05-30
Approximately $5.4 million is drained from the Gravity Bridge Ethereum-side contracts. PeckShield and on-chain analyst Specter flag the incident. Two attacker addresses identified: 0x7B582033061b96cC3F9421e73a749ED7C62da1F9 and 0x4d3ca32e687e871a58b78AcAc73bE59AC37C7A47. Stolen assets: ~$4.3M USDC, ~$553K ETH (274 ETH), ~$434K USDT, ~$64K PAYG tokens.
The Block2026-05-30
Gravity Bridge team issues official statement instructing all validators and orchestrators to halt operations immediately while the incident is investigated. Bridge fully suspended.
Grafa / crypto.news2026-05-30
Attacker begins laundering stolen funds through ChangeNow and Binance. TVL drops from approximately $11.82M to $6.24M — a 47% decline.
AMBCrypto2026-06-01
Attacker wallet 0x7B582033... still holds approximately 2,102 ETH (~$4.23M). Bridge remains halted. No postmortem published.
CryptopolitanDecision Log
- hash: EGYBeLhShw2gPZ879FD4xF6y4YqnLABAXSKoVPJpso7C
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain and source URLs are archived via the Internet Archive.
model: claude-sonnet-4-6
generated: 6/2/2026, 6:52:25 PM
last updated: 6/2/2026, 6:52:59 PM
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