Audit log

Every state-changing event for Hyperbridge (Polkadot-Ethereum Bridge) — April 2026 Exploit: moderation decisions on community submissions, plus corrections and updates from the news pipeline. URL-based decisions are designed to carry three independent witnesses — the original source, an Internet Archive snapshot, and a Solana memo signed by our publicly-disclosed publisher key. Archive coverage is still being backfilled, so each decision below reports its own snapshot status rather than assuming one exists.

1. #1publishby system:backfill

   2026-08-02 12:19:49Z
   Score: ? → ? (no score change)
   anchorpending

   chain

   ●—

   hash

   AL8kosR4WK6L…Jjtq9Xhncopysha256 → base58

   verifying row…

   canonical bytes (28005 B) ▸

   {"actor":"system:backfill","investigation_id":"5f3c2907-8e30-4d82-a4a7-875cd9bc7d2c","kind":"publish","page_slug":"hyperbridge-polkadot-ethereum-bridge-april-2026-exploit","published_at":"2026-08-02T12:19:49.316Z","sequence_num":1,"snapshot":{"content_type":"investigation","entity_name":"Hyperbridge (Polkadot-Ethereum Bridge) — April 2026 Exploit","sections":[{"content":"Hyperbridge is a cross-chain bridge and interoperability protocol developed by Polytope Labs, a blockchain research and development company co-founded in 2023 by Seun Lanlege and David Salami. Lanlege previously served as a core developer at Parity Technologies, contributing to Parity-Ethereum, Substrate, and Polkadot. He also led Substrate-IBC efforts at Composable Finance before founding Polytope Labs. Hyperbridge launched on the Polkadot mainnet in 2024 and was marketed by the team as a cryptographically secured bridge offering 'full node security' for cross-chain messaging — a claim that positioned it as safer than validator-based bridge designs. The protocol uses the Inter-System Messaging Protocol (ISMP) to relay messages between Polkadot and connected EVM chains. Prior to the exploit, Hyperbridge had processed nearly half a billion dollars in transaction volume.","heading":"Background and Developer","severity":"low","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Nigerian Engineers Build 'First-Of-Its-Kind' Network For Blockchains To Communicate Securely","type":"news_article","url":"https://peopleofcolorintech.com/articles/nigerian-engineers-build-first-of-its-kind-network-for-blockchains-to-communicate-securely/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Polytope Labs launches Hyperbridge — Technext","type":"news_article","url":"https://technext24.com/2023/11/02/polytope-labs-launches-hyperbridge/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Hyperbridge exploit lets attacker mint 1B bridged DOT — raising questions after 'safest bridge' claims — AMBCrypto","type":"news_article","url":"https://ambcrypto.com/hyperbridge-exploit-lets-attacker-mint-1b-bridged-dot-raising-questions-after-safest-bridge-claims/"}]},{"content":"The exploit was rooted in missing input validation in the VerifyProof() function of the HandlerV1 smart contract on Ethereum. The Merkle Mountain Range (MMR) verifier failed to enforce that leaf_index < leafCount when processing submitted proofs. In the leavesForSubtree() function, leaves were excluded when leaf_index equaled a subtree boundary, and in CalculateRoot(), when no leaves remained in a subtree, the verifier accepted the next proof node directly as the peak root without verifying the forged leaf hash. This allowed an attacker to submit a crafted proof containing one legitimate leaf and one out-of-bounds forged leaf; the verifier reconstructed the correct MMR root from the genuine leaf while silently skipping the forgery, and downstream handlers treated both as authenticated.\n\nThe attacker exploited this to forge a governance-style PostRequest message claiming source 'POLKADOT-3367' with action code 0x04 (ChangeAssetAdmin). HandlerV1 accepted the forged message as valid. The TokenGateway contract then executed an admin transfer of the bridged DOT token contract — giving the attacker minting authority — without any additional authentication checks specific to that governance pathway. Security firms CertiK and Blocksec Falcon separately confirmed the attack mechanics. The post-mortem published by Hyperbridge also identified that the same structural flaw appeared in the paritytech/merkle-mountain-range and antouhou/rs-merkle open-source libraries, suggesting systemic undertesting of MMR implementations across the Polkadot ecosystem.","heading":"Exploit: Technical Root Cause","severity":"critical","sources":[{"credibility":1,"name":"Security Update: Token Gateway Exploited via Forged Proofs — Hyperbridge Blog","type":"official","url":"https://blog.hyperbridge.network/security-update-forged-proofs/"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Post-Mortem: Hyperbridge MMR Verifier Exploit, April 13, 2026 — Hyperbridge Blog","type":"official","url":"https://blog.hyperbridge.network/april-13-post-mortem/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Hyperbridge ISMP Forged Proof DOT Mint — DARKNAVY","type":"research","url":"https://www.darknavy.org/web3/exploits/hyperbridge-ismp-forged-proof-dot-mint/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Hyperbridge Exploit Mints 1B DOT Tokens in Attack, CertiK Reports — CoinMarketCap","type":"news_article","url":"https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/article/hyperbridge-exploit-mints-1b-dot-tokens-in-attack-certik-reports"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Hyperbridge HandlerV1 Vulnerability Allows Message Forgery — Phemex","type":"news_article","url":"https://phemex.com/news/article/hyperbridge-handlerv1-contract-vulnerability-exposes-crosschain-message-forgery-risk-72871"}]},{"content":"The attack was executed in two phases approximately one hour apart. In the first phase, approximately 245 ETH was extracted directly from the Token Gateway contract. In the second phase, the attacker deployed a helper contract and submitted the forged governance message through Hyperbridge's Ethereum-side ISMP message path. Upon HandlerV1's acceptance of the forged proof, the TokenGateway executed the ChangeAssetAdmin action, transferring minting authority over the bridged DOT token to the attacker's helper contract.\n\nThe attacker then minted 1,000,000,000 bridged DOT tokens — increasing the pre-attack bridged DOT supply from approximately 356,466 tokens to over 1,000,356,466 tokens, a 2,805x inflation. The minted tokens were immediately sold through Odos and Uniswap v4 infrastructure. Shallow liquidity in the bridged DOT pools capped realized extraction at 108.206143512481490001 ETH, valued at approximately $237,000 at incident time. The exploit transaction hash is reported as 0x240aeb9a8b2aabf64ed8e1e480d3e7be140cf530dc1e5606cb16671029401109. The vulnerable HandlerV1 contract is at address 0x6c84eDd2A018b1fe2Fc93a56066B5C60dA4E6D64 and the TokenGateway at 0xFd413e3AFe560182C4471F4d143A96d3e259B6dE. Total gas cost for the exploit was negligible at approximately 0.000338680958418962 ETH.","heading":"Attack Execution and On-Chain Details","severity":"critical","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Hyperbridge ISMP Forged Proof DOT Mint — DARKNAVY","type":"on_chain","url":"https://www.darknavy.org/web3/exploits/hyperbridge-ismp-forged-proof-dot-mint/"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Attacker mints $1 billion Polkadot tokens on Ethereum, ends up stealing just $250,000 — CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2026/04/13/attacker-mints-usd1-billion-polkadot-tokens-on-ethereum-ends-up-stealing-just-usd250-000"},{"credibility":2,"name":"DOT Exploit Shock: 1 Billion Tokens Minted, Dumped in Minutes — CCN","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/dot-exploit-shock-1-billion-tokens-minted-dumped-in-minutes/"}]},{"content":"On April 13, 2026, Hyperbridge initially disclosed losses of approximately $237,000, attributable to the Ethereum liquidity pool drain. On April 16, 2026, the team issued a revised loss estimate of approximately $2.5 million — approximately ten times the original figure. The revision followed full forensic reconciliation of attacker activity across all four affected chains and accounting for losses from associated incentive pools. The team stated: 'Following reconciliation of attacker activity across each of the four chains, the two-phase nature of the attack, and losses from the associated incentive pools, the revised total realized loss is approximately $2.5 million.' Affected networks included Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, and BNB Chain. The native Polkadot relay chain and native DOT tokens were unaffected; the exploit was strictly confined to bridged representations of DOT on EVM chains.","heading":"Revised Financial Losses","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":1,"name":"Polkadot-based Hyperbridge revises exploit losses to $2.5 million, ten times initial estimate — The Block","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/397773/polkadot-hyperbridge-exploit-losses-2-5-million-ten-times-initial-estimate"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Hyperbridge Confirms Bridged Polkadot Exploit Was 10x Worse Than First Reported — Yahoo Finance","type":"news_article","url":"https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/crypto/articles/hyperbridge-confirms-bridged-polkadot-exploit-053634639.html"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Hyperbridge Raises Exploit Loss Estimate to $2.5M From $237K — CryptoTimes","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.cryptotimes.io/2026/04/16/hyperbridge-raises-exploit-loss-estimate-to-2-5m-from-237k/"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Update on Recovery Efforts and Next Steps — Hyperbridge Blog","type":"official","url":"https://blog.hyperbridge.network/recovery-and-next-steps/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Polkadot Hyperbridge Exploit: $2.5M Loss Update — BYDFi","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.bydfi.com/en/cointalk/polkadot-hyperbridge-exploit-loss-update-2026"}]},{"content":"The minting of 1 billion unbacked bridged DOT tokens caused severe price collapse in the bridged DOT liquidity pools on Ethereum and connected EVM chains. The price impact on native DOT was limited but measurable, with native DOT falling approximately 4% from around $1.22 to approximately $1.18 on the news. South Korean exchanges Upbit and Bithumb suspended DOT deposits and withdrawals following the incident, citing precautionary measures to protect users from potential volatility and liquidity risks arising from the exploit. The incident attracted significant social media attention, with Polkadot leading social discourse across crypto platforms in the days following the attack. Hyperbridge paused all bridging operations immediately upon detecting the exploit.","heading":"Market Impact and Exchange Reactions","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Upbit and Bithumb Halt DOT Transactions — Phemex","type":"news_article","url":"https://phemex.com/news/article/upbit-and-bithumb-suspend-dot-transactions-amid-low-liquidity-72847"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Polkadot Leads Social Discourse Thanks to Hyperbridge — MEXC News","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.mexc.com/news/1033040"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Polkadot hack fallout: Hyperbridge mint triggers 1 billion bridged DOT — Cryptonomist","type":"news_article","url":"https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2026/04/14/polkadot-hack-hyperbridge-1b-dot/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Polkadot Confirms Exploit on Hyperbridge's Ethereum Gateway Contract — The Defiant","type":"news_article","url":"https://thedefiant.io/news/hacks/polkadot-hyperbridge-ethereum-gateway-exploit-sjb0ql"}]},{"content":"Following the April 13 exploit, Hyperbridge engaged Security Research Labs (SRLabs) for an independent audit of the full verification and settlement stack. The engagement identified 14 issues in total: 1 critical, 3 high, 5 medium, 4 low, and 1 informational. The critical finding determined that duplicate leaf indices in MerkleMultiProof proofs could allow a single validator to forge supermajority consensus, potentially compromising bridge validators entirely — a separate and more severe vulnerability from the one exploited in April. High-severity issues included partial fills in IntentGatewayV2 over-releasing escrow when tokens appeared multiple times in a transaction. Medium-severity issues included fee-on-transfer token handling, native ETH refund gaps, and tracking errors on partial fills. All 14 findings were remediated before the protocol's relaunch in June 2026. The post-mortem also disclosed that the same structural MMR flaw was present in the paritytech/merkle-mountain-range and antouhou/rs-merkle open-source libraries; a disclosure was filed with Parity on April 21, 2026, and the pallet-beefy-mmr pallet was subsequently patched. Hyperbridge later launched a public bug bounty program on HackenProof offering rewards of $200 to $50,000 per severity tier.","heading":"Security Audit Findings and Additional Vulnerabilities","severity":"critical","sources":[{"credibility":1,"name":"Post-Mortem: Hyperbridge MMR Verifier Exploit, April 13, 2026 — Hyperbridge Blog","type":"official","url":"https://blog.hyperbridge.network/april-13-post-mortem/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Hyperbridge Offers $50,000 for Critical Vulnerabilities — CryptoTimes","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.cryptotimes.io/2026/05/15/hyperbridge-offers-50000-for-critical-vulnerabilities/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Bridge Security After the Hyperbridge Exploit — Autheo Blog","type":"research","url":"https://www.autheo.com/blog/bridge-security-lessons-hyperbridge-exploit-2026"}]},{"content":"Hyperbridge reported that a significant portion of stolen funds was traced on-chain to Binance. The team initiated coordination with Binance's compliance division and relevant law enforcement agencies to pursue asset freezes and recovery. The team cautioned that meaningful recovery could take months to over a year. As a contingency, Hyperbridge committed to compensating affected users with BRIDGE tokens if fund recovery proves insufficient, with compensation eligibility set for approximately one year after the exploit date (April 13, 2027). The team stated it deliberately delayed compensation processing to allow on-chain tracing, exchange compliance procedures, and law enforcement coordination to proceed before any token issuance.","heading":"Recovery Efforts and Compensation Plan","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":1,"name":"Update on Recovery Efforts and Next Steps — Hyperbridge Blog","type":"official","url":"https://blog.hyperbridge.network/recovery-and-next-steps/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Big Reveal in Hyperbridge Exploit: User Funds Were Hit — CoinGabbar","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coingabbar.com/en/crypto-currency-news/hyperbridge-exploit-twist-users-also-lost-funds-in-25m-hack"}]},{"content":"On approximately June 16, 2026, Hyperbridge relaunched as an 'Interoperability Hyperstructure' following a complete architectural rebuild. Key changes included the introduction of the Hyper Fungible Token (HFT) standard, in which each bridged asset operates as an independently secured application with its own dedicated contract addresses, pause controls, and rate-limiting logic — replacing the prior shared gateway model. The protocol also introduced a LayerZero endpoint adapter (OFT adapter) allowing existing OFT and OApp implementations to upgrade to cryptographic security by changing a single parameter, without migration or redeployment. Proof generation was made fully permissionless, allowing any operator to run the open-source prover and earn rewards. Administrative sudo functions were removed, and community-based block builder election via reputation tokens was introduced. The commercial model shifted from pay-per-use to prepaid monthly bandwidth subscriptions ($50–$1,000 payable in stablecoins). Polytope Labs distributed over $150,000 in bug bounties to more than 20 researchers during the rebuild process. CEO Seun Lanlege stated the security incident served as a catalyst to accelerate the protocol's roadmap toward permissionless interoperability.","heading":"Protocol Relaunch and Architectural Overhaul","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Hyperbridge relaunches as 'Interoperability Hyperstructure' with new OFT adapter after $2.5M exploit — Technext","type":"news_article","url":"https://technext24.com/2026/06/16/hyperbridge-relaunches-as-hyperstructure/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Hyperbridge relaunches with decentralized overhaul after April exploit — AMBCrypto","type":"news_article","url":"https://ambcrypto.com/hyperbridge-relaunches-with-decentralized-overhaul-after-april-exploit/"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Hyperbridge Relaunches as an Interoperability Hyperstructure — Hyperbridge Blog","type":"official","url":"https://blog.hyperbridge.network/hyperbridge-relaunches-as-an-interoperability-hyperstructure/"}]},{"content":"The Hyperbridge exploit occurred in a period of elevated bridge security scrutiny. According to industry tracking, 14 bridge attacks occurred in 2026 with cumulative losses of approximately $340 million across the sector. Q1 2026 saw $168 million stolen from 34 DeFi protocols, a significant decline from $1.58 billion in Q1 2025. The Hyperbridge incident is notable in demonstrating that cryptographic proof-based bridge designs are not immune to implementation flaws; the marketing claim that Hyperbridge provided 'full node security' was undermined by the missing input validation in the proof verifier itself. Security commentary from Hypernative observed that the attack involved three compounding failures at the proof-validation boundary. The incident has been cited as a case study for bridge security practices, including the need for mint controls, per-asset rate limiting, and defense-in-depth at proof trust boundaries.","heading":"Broader Context: Bridge Security","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"$340M Lost: 14 Crypto Hacks 2026 Targeting Bridges — CoinGabbar","type":"research","url":"https://www.coingabbar.com/en/crypto-currency-news/crypto-hacks-2026-14-bridge-attacks-security-concerns"},{"credibility":2,"name":"How Three Compounding Failures Let an Attacker Mint $1.2B in Bridged Tokens — Hypernative","type":"research","url":"https://www.hypernative.io/insights/blog/how-three-compounding-failures-let-an-attacker-mint-1-2b-in-bridged-tokens"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Bridge Security After the Hyperbridge Exploit: Mint Controls, Liquidity Limits, and Incident Response — Autheo Blog","type":"research","url":"https://www.autheo.com/blog/bridge-security-lessons-hyperbridge-exploit-2026"}]}],"sources_used":[{"credibility":1,"name":"Security Update: Token Gateway Exploited via Forged Proofs — Hyperbridge Blog","type":"official","url":"https://blog.hyperbridge.network/security-update-forged-proofs/"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Post-Mortem: Hyperbridge MMR Verifier Exploit, April 13, 2026 — Hyperbridge Blog","type":"official","url":"https://blog.hyperbridge.network/april-13-post-mortem/"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Update on Recovery Efforts and Next Steps — Hyperbridge Blog","type":"official","url":"https://blog.hyperbridge.network/recovery-and-next-steps/"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Hyperbridge Relaunches as an Interoperability Hyperstructure — Hyperbridge Blog","type":"official","url":"https://blog.hyperbridge.network/hyperbridge-relaunches-as-an-interoperability-hyperstructure/"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Attacker mints $1 billion Polkadot tokens on Ethereum, ends up stealing just $250,000 — CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2026/04/13/attacker-mints-usd1-billion-polkadot-tokens-on-ethereum-ends-up-stealing-just-usd250-000"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Polkadot-based Hyperbridge revises exploit losses to $2.5 million — The Block","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/397773/polkadot-hyperbridge-exploit-losses-2-5-million-ten-times-initial-estimate"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Hyperbridge Confirms Bridged Polkadot Exploit Was 10x Worse Than First Reported — Yahoo Finance","type":"news_article","url":"https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/crypto/articles/hyperbridge-confirms-bridged-polkadot-exploit-053634639.html"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Hyperbridge ISMP Forged Proof DOT Mint — DARKNAVY","type":"research","url":"https://www.darknavy.org/web3/exploits/hyperbridge-ismp-forged-proof-dot-mint/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Hyperbridge Exploit Mints 1B DOT Tokens in Attack, CertiK Reports — CoinMarketCap","type":"news_article","url":"https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/article/hyperbridge-exploit-mints-1b-dot-tokens-in-attack-certik-reports"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Hyperbridge HandlerV1 Vulnerability Allows Message Forgery — Phemex","type":"news_article","url":"https://phemex.com/news/article/hyperbridge-handlerv1-contract-vulnerability-exposes-crosschain-message-forgery-risk-72871"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Upbit and Bithumb Halt DOT Transactions — Phemex","type":"news_article","url":"https://phemex.com/news/article/upbit-and-bithumb-suspend-dot-transactions-amid-low-liquidity-72847"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Polkadot Hyperbridge Exploit: $2.5M Loss Update — BYDFi","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.bydfi.com/en/cointalk/polkadot-hyperbridge-exploit-loss-update-2026"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Hyperbridge Raises Exploit Loss Estimate to $2.5M From $237K — CryptoTimes","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.cryptotimes.io/2026/04/16/hyperbridge-raises-exploit-loss-estimate-to-2-5m-from-237k/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Hyperbridge Offers $50,000 for Critical Vulnerabilities — CryptoTimes","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.cryptotimes.io/2026/05/15/hyperbridge-offers-50000-for-critical-vulnerabilities/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Hyperbridge exploit lets attacker mint 1B bridged DOT — AMBCrypto","type":"news_article","url":"https://ambcrypto.com/hyperbridge-exploit-lets-attacker-mint-1b-bridged-dot-raising-questions-after-safest-bridge-claims/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Hyperbridge relaunches as 'Interoperability Hyperstructure' — Technext","type":"news_article","url":"https://technext24.com/2026/06/16/hyperbridge-relaunches-as-hyperstructure/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Hyperbridge relaunches with decentralized overhaul after April exploit — AMBCrypto","type":"news_article","url":"https://ambcrypto.com/hyperbridge-relaunches-with-decentralized-overhaul-after-april-exploit/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Polkadot Confirms Exploit on Hyperbridge's Ethereum Gateway Contract — The Defiant","type":"news_article","url":"https://thedefiant.io/news/hacks/polkadot-hyperbridge-ethereum-gateway-exploit-sjb0ql"},{"credibility":2,"name":"$340M Lost: 14 Crypto Hacks 2026 Targeting Bridges — CoinGabbar","type":"research","url":"https://www.coingabbar.com/en/crypto-currency-news/crypto-hacks-2026-14-bridge-attacks-security-concerns"},{"credibility":2,"name":"How Three Compounding Failures Let an Attacker Mint $1.2B in Bridged Tokens — Hypernative","type":"research","url":"https://www.hypernative.io/insights/blog/how-three-compounding-failures-let-an-attacker-mint-1-2b-in-bridged-tokens"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Bridge Security After the Hyperbridge Exploit — Autheo Blog","type":"research","url":"https://www.autheo.com/blog/bridge-security-lessons-hyperbridge-exploit-2026"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Polkadot hack fallout: Hyperbridge mint triggers 1 billion bridged DOT — Cryptonomist","type":"news_article","url":"https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2026/04/14/polkadot-hack-hyperbridge-1b-dot/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Big Reveal in Hyperbridge Exploit: User Funds Were Hit — CoinGabbar","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coingabbar.com/en/crypto-currency-news/hyperbridge-exploit-twist-users-also-lost-funds-in-25m-hack"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Polytope Labs launches Hyperbridge — Technext","type":"news_article","url":"https://technext24.com/2023/11/02/polytope-labs-launches-hyperbridge/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Nigerian Engineers Build 'First-Of-Its-Kind' Network For Blockchains To Communicate Securely — People of Color in Tech","type":"news_article","url":"https://peopleofcolorintech.com/articles/nigerian-engineers-build-first-of-its-kind-network-for-blockchains-to-communicate-securely/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"DOT Exploit Shock: 1 Billion Tokens Minted, Dumped in Minutes — CCN","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/dot-exploit-shock-1-billion-tokens-minted-dumped-in-minutes/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Polkadot Leads Social Discourse Thanks to Hyperbridge — MEXC News","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.mexc.com/news/1033040"}],"summary":"Hyperbridge is a cross-chain interoperability protocol developed by Polytope Labs that bridges the Polkadot and Ethereum ecosystems using cryptographic proof verification. On April 13, 2026, an attacker exploited a missing bounds check in the Merkle Mountain Range (MMR) proof verifier within the HandlerV1 contract, forging cross-chain governance messages that granted administrative control over the bridged DOT token contract on Ethereum; the attacker subsequently minted 1 billion bridged DOT tokens and dumped them across decentralized exchanges. Losses were initially reported at approximately $237,000 but were revised to approximately $2.5 million after forensic analysis revealed the attack spanned four EVM networks — Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, and BNB Chain.","timeline":[{"date":"2023-01-01","event":"Seun Lanlege and David Salami co-found Polytope Labs, the developer of Hyperbridge","source":"Technext / People of Color in Tech","source_url":"https://technext24.com/2023/11/02/polytope-labs-launches-hyperbridge/"},{"date":"2024-01-01","event":"Hyperbridge launches on Polkadot mainnet, marketed as offering cryptographic 'full node security' for cross-chain bridging","source":"AMBCrypto","source_url":"https://ambcrypto.com/hyperbridge-exploit-lets-attacker-mint-1b-bridged-dot-raising-questions-after-safest-bridge-claims/"},{"date":"2026-04-13","event":"Attacker exploits missing bounds check in HandlerV1 VerifyProof() function at 03:55:23 UTC, forging a governance message to seize admin control of bridged DOT token contract on Ethereum; 1 billion bridged DOT tokens minted and dumped for approximately 108.2 ETH (~$237,000); Hyperbridge pauses all bridging operations","source":"Hyperbridge Blog / DARKNAVY / CoinDesk","source_url":"https://blog.hyperbridge.network/security-update-forged-proofs/"},{"date":"2026-04-13","event":"South Korean exchanges Upbit and Bithumb suspend DOT deposits and withdrawals as a precautionary measure; native DOT price falls approximately 4%","source":"Phemex","source_url":"https://phemex.com/news/article/upbit-and-bithumb-suspend-dot-transactions-amid-low-liquidity-72847"},{"date":"2026-04-16","event":"Hyperbridge deploys the OutOfBoundsLeaves invariant fix; revises total realized losses to approximately $2.5 million — ten times the initial estimate — after forensic reconciliation across Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, and BNB Chain","source":"Hyperbridge Blog / The Block / CryptoTimes","source_url":"https://blog.hyperbridge.network/april-13-post-mortem/"},{"date":"2026-04-17","event":"Internal audit begins, discovering additional duplicate/unsorted leaf vulnerabilities beyond the initial exploit vector","source":"Hyperbridge Blog Post-Mortem","source_url":"https://blog.hyperbridge.network/april-13-post-mortem/"},{"date":"2026-04-21","event":"Hyperbridge files disclosure with Parity Technologies; pallet-beefy-mmr patched to address the same underlying MMR flaw in upstream Polkadot libraries","source":"Hyperbridge Blog Post-Mortem","source_url":"https://blog.hyperbridge.network/april-13-post-mortem/"},{"date":"2026-04-27","event":"Fork of rs-merkle deployed for off-chain prover with corrected MMR implementation","source":"Hyperbridge Blog Post-Mortem","source_url":"https://blog.hyperbridge.network/april-13-post-mortem/"},{"date":"2026-05-11","event":"Hyperbridge v1.0.0 released; redeployment commences after all 14 SRLabs audit findings remediated","source":"Hyperbridge Blog Post-Mortem","source_url":"https://blog.hyperbridge.network/april-13-post-mortem/"},{"date":"2026-05-15","event":"Hyperbridge launches public bug bounty program on HackenProof with rewards up to $50,000 for critical vulnerabilities","source":"CryptoTimes","source_url":"https://www.cryptotimes.io/2026/05/15/hyperbridge-offers-50000-for-critical-vulnerabilities/"},{"date":"2026-06-16","event":"Hyperbridge relaunches as 'Interoperability Hyperstructure' with new Hyper Fungible Token standard, OFT adapter for LayerZero, permissionless provers, and removal of sudo functions; over $150,000 in bug bounties distributed to 20+ researchers during rebuild","source":"Technext / Hyperbridge Blog","source_url":"https://technext24.com/2026/06/16/hyperbridge-relaunches-as-hyperstructure/"}]},"v":1}

   Verify offline (run on your own machine)

   python -m src.verify_decision 199b2e8c-852a-454b-840e-3ccaa6fc04a8copy