Shibarium Bridge Attacked, 4.6 Million BONE Tokens Frozen

Shina Inu's latest price was $0.06, down 1.481% in the last 24 hours. The Shina Inu ecosystem has been actively working on enhancing its interoperability and expanding its capabilities. The Shibarium network is expected to launch an update on Monday, which will improve the ecosystem's interoperability. This update is part of the ongoing efforts to improve the Shiba Inu ecosystem, which includes the expansion of ShibaSwap’s cross-chain capabilities. ShibaSwap now offers token swaps across major blockchains such as Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, and Base. This expansion is poised to strengthen the Shiba Inu ecosystem by opening up new opportunities for traders and attracting liquidity from prominent blockchain ecosystems.

The integration of Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) within ShibaSwap will allow for enhanced interoperability between Shina Inu’s ecosystem and more than 20 blockchains. This move is expected to improve liquidity and provide a more seamless experience for traders. The Shibarium bridge remains central to the vision of enabling low-cost, high-speed transfers across Ethereum and Shibarium, underpinning moves into gaming, the metaverse, and decentralized finance.

Despite these advancements, the Shina Inu ecosystem has faced a recent security breach involving the Shibarium bridge. An attacker used a flash loan to purchase a significant amount of 4.6 million BONE tokens. Fortunately, most of the assets, including the BONE tokens, remain locked and frozen, minimizing potential damage. In response, Shina Inu developers paused the stake/unstake functionality as a precautionary measure, securing funds in multisig cold storage. Security firms are currently investigating the incident. According to Dhairya, validator keys are being secured, and further updates will be shared as the investigation unfolds.

The attack came to light when security firm flagged suspicious validator activity. Investigators later found that attackers had leveraged a flash loan to compromise signing keys and seize majority control of a validator. Their goal was to drain assets from the Shibarium bridge. Because the stolen BONE was locked through delegation to Validator 1, the attackers couldn’t immediately cash out. Developers acted quickly, halting staking and freezing the compromised tokens. The project also secured funds in a multisig-protected hardware wallet and began auditing validator keys, bringing in firms to assist. Law enforcement has been contacted, though the team made the unusual offer of a bounty in exchange for the safe return of funds.

Even with security issues grabbing headlines, the Shina Inu ecosystem continues to expand. Developers revealed a migration plan for LEASH V1 to LEASH V2, using a fixed ratio model to ensure holders transition smoothly. ShibaSwap also launched a redesign, introducing improved liquidity management and multi-chain trading, part of the team’s broader ambition to position SHIB as a serious DeFi contender. The Shibarium bridge remains central to that vision, enabling low-cost, high-speed transfers across Ethereum and Shibarium and underpinning moves into gaming, the metaverse, and decentralized finance.

The exploit follows other community warnings, including fake Discord scams that tricked users into “verifying” wallets and saw entire balances of SHIB drained. Industry-wide, security concerns remain heightened. The Shibarium network is dealing with a breach that saw an attacker briefly gain validator control and drain funds from the bridge. The event triggered a rapid response from Shina Inu developers. They are working with external partners to trace the exploit and restore confidence in the network. Immediate security measures were rolled out to protect the remaining assets. The team has promised a full incident report once the investigation is complete.

According to an update from the official Shina account, the attacker used funds from a previous bridge hack to buy 4.6 million BONE in one transaction. This gave them temporary validator voting power, enough to sign a malicious state on Shibarium. The transaction was structured like a flash loan, and the borrowed funds were repaid with assets stolen from the bridge. Investigators confirmed that 10 of 12 validators’ signing keys were compromised during the attack. Only validators operated by refused to sign. Without the flash-loan style BONE purchase, the attacker would not have met the two-thirds majority required to approve the malicious state. The assets involved include 224.57 ETH and 92.6 billion SHIB drained from the bridge. The attacker attempted to sell around $700,000 in KNINE but failed after blacklisted the address. Other tokens such as LEASH, ROAR, TREAT, BAD, and SHIFU remain untouched at the time of reporting.

In response, Shibarium paused staking and unstaking functions to protect user funds. Stake manager funds were also transferred from proxy contracts to a secured 6-of-9 hardware multisig wallet. This move prevents further access until validator key control is fully restored. Shina Inu developers are collaborating with to run a full forensic investigation of the exploit. They plan to initiate secure validator key transfers and confirm the chain’s integrity before restoring normal operations. The team stated they are coordinating with partners to freeze funds linked to the attacker and working around the clock to complete the investigation. They reiterated their commitment to transparency and will release a comprehensive report with findings and future measures once the process concludes.

After flagged the suspicious activity, the official Shina Inu channel said the team had reached out to external security partners to investigate thoroughly. One of the first updates posted noted that a sophisticated attack, which was probably planned for months, was carried out using a flash loan to purchase 4.6 million BONE tokens. The attacker gained access to validator signing keys, achieved majority validator power, and signed a malicious state to drain assets from the bridge. As the tokens were delegated to Validator 1, they remained locked because of unstaking delays, which allowed the team to freeze them. A more recent Q&A from the team said only a “small amount of ETH/SHIB was moved.” According to another post, the precise amount was 224.57 ETH and 92.6 billion SHIB. Other affected tokens include LEASH, ROAR, TREAT, BAD, and SHIFU, but they have not been moved or sold as of the time of the post. The attacker also tried to sell $700,000 worth of KNINE, but they failed as the multi-sig blacklisted their address.

The team was adamant that all investors’ funds are safe. Staking and unstaking have been paused, and all funds have been moved and secured in multi-sig cold storage. The team has also engaged with leading security firms to investigate the incident further. In terms of next steps, the Shina Inu team said they will secure validator key transfers and confirm full chain integrity, restore stake manager funds once security is assured, continue coordinating with partners to freeze attacker-linked funds, and publish a full incident report once investigations conclude. Despite this incident, the Shina Inu ecosystem continues to expand with ongoing developments and updates aimed at enhancing security and functionality.

Recent developments in the Shina Inu ecosystem have centered around a significant security incident affecting Shibarium, its Layer-2 blockchain, prompting swift actions from the team to safeguard user assets and network integrity. On September 13, the Shina Inu community encountered a major breach stemming from an attack targeting the Shibarium bridge, which facilitated asset transfers between layers. This exploit was initiated through a flash loan vulnerability, leading to unauthorized access and potential disruptions across the network. In response, the team immediately froze approximately 4.6 million BONE tokens, aiming to contain the threat and prevent any further compromise of user funds.

Alongside the token freeze, the Shina Inu developers have reinforced security protocols to address the vulnerabilities exposed by the breach. These measures include enhanced monitoring systems and additional safeguards on the bridge to deter future attacks, ensuring the platform's stability while minimizing any lasting impact on the community. The incident has highlighted ongoing efforts to maintain robust defenses within the ecosystem. Following the security response, indicators of network recovery have emerged, including a rise in activity levels and reduced holdings on exchanges. As part of this stabilization phase, the focus remains on restoring confidence and advancing the ecosystem's resilience amid the evolving landscape.