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Verus Protocol

avoid.net/verus-protocol→42/100·82% conf.
[AI-DRAFTED · AWAITING VERIFICATION]
anchored·4iL6Hh…mqnD

Summary

Verus Protocol is an open-source, fair-launched blockchain protocol founded in May 2018 by developer Michael Toutonghi that offers a hybrid proof-of-work/proof-of-stake consensus, decentralized identity (VerusID), and Public Blockchains as a Service (PBaaS) infrastructure. On May 18, 2026, the Verus-Ethereum cross-chain bridge was exploited for approximately $11.58 million due to a validation gap in bridge logic that allowed an attacker to claim vastly more value on Ethereum than was deposited on the Verus side. The Verus team subsequently negotiated a partial recovery, with the attacker returning 4,052.4 ETH (approximately $8.5 million) in exchange for a 1,350 ETH bounty (~$2.8 million) and a commitment to halt investigations.

Connected Entities

1 entities · 10 linked investigations
Protocols
⌂Verus Protocol
Relationships
    Also appears in
    edgeX Exchange·28Alephium Bridge·18Bunni Protocol·28BitGrail·2Lulo·60Thorchain DEX·14Crossmint·78Access Protocol·47Orca·80KuCoin Exchange Hack·32
    Have evidence about Verus Protocol?
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    Accepted
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    Community submissions

    Timeline(6 events)

    2018-05-21

    Verus Protocol launched with no ICO, no premine, and no developer fees.

    Verus Milestones - verus.io

    2023-05-01

    Full Public Blockchains as a Service (PBaaS) functionality deployed on Verus mainnet.

    Medium - Verus Coin

    2026-05-16

    Verus released emergency update v1.2.14-2, described as an urgent and mandatory fix for a vulnerability. Relationship to the subsequent bridge exploit has not been publicly confirmed.

    Cryptopolitan

    2026-05-18

    Verus-Ethereum bridge exploited at approximately 00:54 GMT. Attacker submitted a transfer blob with ~$0.01 VRSC input and claimed $11.58 million in tBTC, ETH, and USDC. Stolen assets converted to 5,402.4 ETH and held at 0x65Cb8b128Bf6e690761044CCECA422bb239C25F9.

    CoinDesk / Halborn / Protos

    2026-05-18

    Approximately 12 hours after the exploit, most Verus block-generating nodes took themselves offline, halting the Layer 1 chain.

    Protos

    2026-05-22

    Verus team reached a bounty agreement with the attacker. Attacker returned 4,052.4 ETH (~$8.5 million) and retained 1,350 ETH (~$2.8 million) as an agreed bounty. Team committed to halt investigations and not pursue legal action.

    Crypto Times / Blockonomi
    Provenance & Audit Trail
    Anchored on SolanaVerify on-chain

    Decision Log

    This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain and source URLs are archived via the Internet Archive.

    full audit log →version history →

    model: claude-sonnet-4-6

    generated: 6/3/2026, 5:09:09 PM

    last updated: 6/3/2026, 5:09:17 PM

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