HECO Bridge & HTX Exchange Hack
Last changed 2026-10-14 · Re-researched — Re-researched in full by the investigator agent; the text was rewritten from new research. Version history →
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anchored·5sGTmE…CYdbSummary
On November 22, 2023, the HECO Chain cross-chain bridge and the HTX exchange (formerly Huobi), both linked to entrepreneur Justin Sun, were exploited at around the same time. The bridge lost approximately $87 million in various tokens and HTX hot wallets lost a further $12.5-26 million, with combined losses reported between about $99 million and $113 million; security firms attributed the bridge theft to an operator private key compromise, and Elliptic alleged the attack was the work of North Korea's Lazarus Group, which began laundering through Tornado Cash in March 2024. No meaningful recovery has been confirmed, and HECO Chain was shut down on January 15, 2025.
Connected Entities
13 entities · 60 linked investigations- HECO Bridge & HTX Exchange Hack→mentioned with→HTX(70%)
- HECO Bridge & HTX Exchange Hack→mentioned with→Poloniex(80%)
- HECO Bridge & HTX Exchange Hack→mentioned with→Solana(60%)
- HECO Bridge & HTX Exchange Hack→mentioned with→Heco Bridge(75%)
- HECO Bridge & HTX Exchange Hack→mentioned with→Ethereum(70%)
- Justin Sun→mentioned with→Poloniex(80%)
- Justin Sun→mentioned with→HTX(70%)
- Justin Sun→mentioned with→Ethereum(65%)
- Justin Sun→mentioned with→TRON(70%)
- HECO Bridge & HTX Exchange Hack→mentioned with→TRON(70%)
- + 47 more
Timeline(13 events)
December 2020
HECO Chain (Huobi Eco Chain) officially launches (December 21, 2020) with a $200 million ecosystem fund; Heco Bridge goes live enabling cross-chain transfers between HECO and Ethereum.
June 2021
HECO Chain TVL peaks at approximately $3 billion.
September 2023
HTX (formerly Huobi) hot wallet exploited for 5,000 ETH (~$8 million) on September 24, 2023. Justin Sun offers a 5% white-hat bounty.
CoinDesk — Crypto Exchange HTX Lost $8M of Ether Due to a Hack, Justin Sun SaysOctober 2023
September HTX hacker returns 4,997 ETH (about October 7, 2023) after receiving a 250 ETH (~$410,000) white-hat bounty; an on-chain message confirms a private key leak as root cause.
Bitcoin Insider — HTX/Huobi hacker returns $8 million stolen cryptoNovember 2023
Justin Sun-owned Poloniex exchange hacked on November 10, 2023 for approximately $120-126 million via hot wallet compromise; $10 million white-hat bounty offered.
Decrypt — Justin Sun-Owned Exchange Poloniex Hacked for At Least $126 MillionNovember 2023
November 22, 2023: HECO Chain cross-chain bridge exploited for approximately $87 million via operator private key compromise; HTX hot wallets drained at the same time (about $12.5-26 million depending on source). Reported combined losses range from about $99 million to $113 million.
CoinDesk — Justin Sun Confirms HTX, Heco Chain ExploitedNovember 2023
November 22, 2023: Justin Sun publicly confirms the exploits, pledges full compensation for HTX losses, and HTX suspends deposits and withdrawals. CertiK, Hacken and ImmuneBytes publish analyses attributing the bridge attack to an operator private key compromise.
Investing.com — Justin Sun pledges to reimburse HTX users after $86.6 million HECO Chain exploitNovember 2023
November 23, 2023: CNBC reports combined HTX/HECO losses of approximately $115 million; services remain suspended.
CNBC — HTX, Heco Chain crypto hack: $115 million stolen so farNovember 2023
HTX resumes deposit and withdrawal services on November 25, 2023, about three days after the hack.
CoinTelegraph — HTX deposits and withdrawals back after hot wallet hackDecember 2023
HTX records approximately $258 million in net outflows (to December 10, 2023) since resuming services on November 25.
CoinTelegraph — Crypto exchange HTX sees outflows top $258M following exploitMarch 2024
March 13, 2024: Lazarus Group (alleged) begins laundering HECO bridge/HTX hack proceeds through Tornado Cash, with over 40 transactions in the first two days. March 14: Elliptic attributes the hack to Lazarus Group and reports $12 million (and, per the other account, over $100 million) laundered via Tornado Cash. March 22: analysts report over $145 million in ETH laundered over an 8-day period.
Elliptic — North Korean Hackers Return to Tornado CashNovember 2024
HTX announces permanent closure of HECO Chain effective January 15, 2025 (announcement dated November 20 or November 25, 2024 depending on source); users instructed to redeem HRC20 assets before January 10, 2025.
Blockonomi — HECO Chain Announces January 2025 ClosureJanuary 2025
HECO Chain officially shuts down on January 15, 2025 after about four years of operation; the Heco Bridge is permanently defunct.
Blockonomi — HECO Chain Announces January 2025 ClosureDecision Log
- slot 424319672 · hash EstTYvSrqaKYsvxMAvoVWkPf2yngL65DxUdUz3U3cXrP
- slot 424319668 · hash D5GmxQc6YeXhf5NepdoNr9bkSVYYkzLLxXxEQVrYNmVA
- slot 423640282 · hash HKvAVoXwyx1XTxwaEN66YtNsnwgFpWZN2bFYPDTgcu3L
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (3 decisions). 31 of 34 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.
model: claude-code-merge-writer
generated: 6/1/2026, 5:48:02 PM
last updated: 10/14/2026, 12:23:03 AM
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