Hyperbridge
Last changed 2026-10-27 · Fact-check review — Fact-check review (verdict: revise): the reviewer checked the page's claims against its sources; the trust score did not change. Version history →
Why this score
| Every page starts at | 65 |
| Concerns that are not fraud | -6.4 |
| Incidents it suffered (e.g. hacks) | -6.4 |
| Problems around it, caused by others | -1.6 |
| Long-running | +4 |
| Sum | 55 |
Score: 55/100 (kept between 0 and 100)
How scoring works →Page reliability: Fact-checked 2026-10-27 · 10 of 13 claims confirmed · 3 need better sources
anchored·5WKQm5…xKCoSummary
Hyperbridge is a cross-chain interoperability protocol built by Polytope Labs, a Nigerian-founded firm co-founded by Seun Lanlege and David Salami, that uses cryptographic proofs to move assets and messages between Polkadot, Ethereum and other EVM chains. On April 13, 2026, an attacker exploited a Merkle Mountain Range (MMR) proof verification flaw in its Ethereum Token Gateway, minting about 1 billion bridged DOT; losses first reported at about $237,000 were revised to about $2.5 million across Ethereum, Base, BNB Chain and Arbitrum. The exploit came less than two weeks after an April Fools' post mocking the idea of a hack and followed alleged dismissals of security warnings; the protocol was paused, audited, and relaunched in June 2026 after an architectural rebuild, with compensation pledged in BRIDGE tokens if recovery falls short.
Connected Entities
11 entities · 60 linked investigations- Polkadot (DOT)→mentioned with→Polkadot(80%)
- Polkadot (DOT)→mentioned with→Hyperbridge(70%)
- Polkadot (DOT)→mentioned with→Ethereum(70%)
- Binance→mentioned with→Ethereum(65%)
- Uniswap→mentioned with→Ethereum(80%)
- Polkadot→mentioned with→Ethereum(65%)
- Polkadot→mentioned with→Hyperbridge(80%)
- LayerZero — DVN Single-Verifier Configuration Risk→mentioned with→Ethereum(60%)
- Hyperbridge (Polkadot-Ethereum Bridge)→mentioned with→LayerZero — DVN Single-Verifier Configuration Risk(65%)
- Hyperbridge→mentioned with→Polkadot (DOT)(80%)
- + 24 more
Connected Through
10 shared actors · 558 investigationsDistinct actors this investigation shares with others — holders, traders, and named parties. Shared infrastructure (exchanges, pools) is excluded.
- □Ethereumorganization
- □Binanceorganization
- ⌂Uniswapprotocol
- □Arbitrumorganization
1 submission awaiting moderator review.
Timeline(17 events)
November 2023
Polytope Labs publicly launches the Hyperbridge cross-chain bridge.
2024
Hyperbridge launches on Polkadot mainnet as a cross-chain interoperability bridge using zero-knowledge proof-based consensus verification.
Hyperbridge Overview - Polkadot WikiSeptember 2024
Hyperbridge raises a $2.5 million seed round led by the Web3 Foundation and Scytale Digital via the Polkadot Ecosystem Fund.
CoinPaperApril 2025
Polytope Labs reports raising over $5 million, backed by the Polkadot Ecosystem Fund, Web3 Foundation and Scytale Digital (described on one page as including a $5.3 million round).
TechCabalSeptember 2025
Hyperbridge expands to Polygon mainnet; the team markets the protocol as 'the world's safest bridge'.
February 2026
Alleged: a bug bounty researcher reports critical vulnerabilities and is reportedly told 'exploit them if you found them' by the team.
April 2026
Hyperbridge posts an April Fools' joke on X claiming the Lazarus Group drained $37 million; the linked blog post contains a Rickroll GIF and an article titled 'Why Hyperbridge Can't Be Hacked'.
ProtosApril 2026
A known exploiter address begins probing Hyperbridge; a developer reportedly dismisses the attempts with 'hope you have a quantum computer bro'.
April 2026
Attacker exploits an MMR proof verification flaw in Hyperbridge's Ethereum Token Gateway, seizes admin control of the bridged DOT contract and mints about 1 billion bridged DOT, extracting about 108.2 ETH (~$237,000). Gateway paused within hours; the April Fools posts are later deleted.
CoinDeskApril 2026
About 245 ETH taken from the TokenGateway contract is deposited into Tornado Cash.
April 2026
Hyperbridge revises total exploit losses to about $2.5 million, roughly ten times the initial estimate, after reviewing activity across Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base and BNB Chain; emergency bounds-validation patch deployed.
Crypto TimesApril 2026
Stolen funds traced in part to Binance; Hyperbridge says it is cooperating with Binance compliance and law enforcement.
AMBCryptoApril 2026
Hyperbridge files a vulnerability disclosure with Parity Technologies after finding identical bugs in two upstream ecosystem libraries.
Hyperbridge Post-Mortem (official blog)April 2026
Polkadot Forum pre-proposal discussion proposes a DOT recovery loan from the Polkadot Treasury for liquidity providers affected by the exploit.
Polkadot ForumMay 2026
SRLabs-audited version of the patched codebase released; redeployment begins.
Hyperbridge Post-Mortem (official blog)May 2026
Hyperbridge launches a HackenProof bug bounty of up to $50,000 for critical vulnerabilities, after a post-exploit SRLabs audit found 14 vulnerabilities (1 critical, 3 high, 5 medium, 4 low, 1 informational); over $150,000 reportedly paid to more than 20 researchers in the first week.
Crypto TimesJune 2026
Hyperbridge relaunches after a full architectural rebuild, including the Hyperfungible Token standard, permissionless proof generation, token-holder governance and a LayerZero-compatible OFT adapter.
Crypto TimesDecision Log
- slot 462188064 · hash CJuaipoHgMMmvgSZc854HviFPdw6imDQ75fxU82YSU5M
- slot 462188059 · hash Ggu5ScS1rscnLBCxuC7eLwBVP17mYKkChKsiEGNLYqWV
- slot 455368030 · hash DntFpXD3ZSYJPNLJympcKxUhnrmb4vxV9mSUjff3rU4R
- slot 422347001 · hash UPQCTRd3xoYkK4NBb8WQPrtYKSEBqtXd4m88AxAdsgb
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (4 decisions). 38 of 39 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.
model: claude-code-merge-writer
generated: 5/4/2026, 2:54:12 AM
last updated: 10/27/2026, 7:24:39 PM
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