Cross-chain liquidity protocol Symbiosis has recovered around 15 BTC after a breach targeting its Bitcoin bridge. The September 11 incident led the project to suspend its Bitcoin Bridge service and isolate the affected infrastructure. At the same time, Symbiosis has reestablished bitcoin trading through Chainflip and THORChain. The protocol also offers a 20% bonus to recover remaining funds. This operation comes as several bridges have suffered massive creations of unsecured tokens.
In brief
- Symbiosis recovers around 15 BTC after mining its Bitcoin bridge on September 11.
- The protocol is keeping its Bitcoin Bridge suspended, while restoring some trading via Chainflip and THORChain.
- The attack created 46.1 billion uncollateralized syBTC, but only $336,000 was reportedly mined.
- Symbiosis offers a 20% bonus to recover funds still held after the hack.
Symbiosis recovers part of Bitcoin funds after attack
According to Symbiosis, an attacker exploited a vulnerability in its bridge on September 11. The protocol, however, did not detail the nature of the attack. After the breach, the team shut down its native Bitcoin routes and isolated the affected bridge. Other protocol services remained operational.
Routes on the EVM, TRON and TON networks remained operational, as did Octopools. The relay network continues to operate. The protocol has restored bitcoin trading through Chainflip and THORChain. Its own Bitcoin Bridge remains suspended.
Symbiosis says it works with each relevant liquidity provider. The team is preparing a compensation framework. The approximately 15 BTC recovered are in a multisignature wallet controlled by Symbiosis. At the stated price, these bitcoins represent approximately $1.15 million.
A bonus proposed to recover the remaining funds
To speed up the return of assets, Symbiosis offered a bounty of 20% of the stolen funds. This offer was addressed to the perpetrator of the attack until September 13. After this date, another possibility applied. Anyone providing information leading to the recovery of funds could receive the same reward.
The amount recovered represents a portion of the assets related to the incident. Symbiosis secured the 15 BTC found in a multisignature wallet. The protocol is continuing its efforts with affected suppliers. This coordination must accompany the future compensation system.
The case also concerns the creation of billions of unsecured syBTC. Blockaid has announcement having detected a flaw on BNB Chain, where a call to Symbiosis’ BridgeV2 contract generated approximately 46.1 billion syBTC. These tokens were then sent to a new address. The volume created exceeds the supply of 21 million bitcoins.
Massively created tokens, but more limited losses
Despite this considerable issuance, Blockaid reports that the alleged attacker only sold approximately 4.39 WBTC via Uniswap v4 on Ethereum. This operation would have earned him $336,000. DeFiLlama classified the incident as insecure cross-chain token creationwith a loss of $336,000. The gap between tokens created and funds mined therefore appears significant.
The case of Symbiosis is reminiscent of that of Liquid, exploited less than a week earlier. A hacker then created around 4,000 unsecured LBTC before exchanging them for bitcoins held by the network. The manager then returned around 3,400 BTC. Blockstream, however, refused to pay it a bonus for the approximately 598.5 BTC still in circulation.
Other bridge attacks revealed a comparable discrepancy between theoretical issuance and realized gains. In April, an attacker had exploited Hyperbridgea bridge dedicated to Polkadot, to create 1 billion DOT. He ultimately only pocketed around $237,000, a fraction of the theoretical value of the chips. These precedents distinguish created tokens from funds.
Symbiosis claims to have facilitated more than $10 billion in transactions since its launch about five years ago. According to DeFiLlama datathe protocol currently has around $7 million in total value locked. Its data also shows approximately $3.19 billion in volume on decks. What happens next will depend on the remaining funds and the measures for the suppliers concerned.
Monitoring will now focus on assets not yet recovered and the compensation framework announced by Symbiosis. For BTC, the immediate challenge now remains securing the funds concerned, while the Bitcoin Bridge service remains suspended. The next steps will measure the final losses and the response to affected stakeholders.
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