On September 12, the blockchain cybersecurity company PeckShield detected abnormal activity on the Shibarium bridge. The alert was quickly confirmed by the Shiba Inu developers. The hack is based on a sophisticated manipulation of the network's validation mechanism.
By artificially increasing his weight in the system, hackers were able to send fraudulent exit requests. "The hacker managed to deceive the system by giving himself more influence than expected," declared developer Kaal Dhairya through the project's official channels.
The key facts of the hacking are as follows:
◽The amount stolen: approximately 2.3 million dollars in ETH, SHIB, and ROAR;
◽The method: manipulation of the staking part to gain disproportionate influence over the validators;
◽The compromised infrastructure: 10 validators out of 12, whose private keys were used to validate fraudulent transactions;
◽The direct consequence: the bridge between Shibarium and Ethereum is suspended, preventing any withdrawal of funds.
Since then, no resumption of operations has been announced. The developers have decided not to disclose more technical details to avoid facilitating the hackers' work. Kaal Dhairya insists: "updates will only be published through official channels." Security remains the top priority, even at the cost of a heavy silence for the community.
Since the incident, Shibarium's crypto developers have been striving to contain the damage and prepare a possible compensation plan. "For the moment, our work focuses on containment, to prevent any further loss," declared Kaal Dhairya.
At the same time, the team is structurally reinforcing the entire system, a stage described as "strengthening security measures" in its communication. It is no longer just about resolving the exploited flaw, but about deeply reevaluating the security of the entire ecosystem. Crypto users still have no visibility on the recovery of their funds, and no clear roadmap has been presented.
The other sensitive point concerns the compensation for losses. For now, no promise has been made. Dhairya simply mentioned several possible options if the recovery of the stolen assets proves impossible, including resorting to the crypto project’s treasury, establishing an insurance fund, or even burning tokens to compensate for the economic impact.
However, "any solution must first undergo community scrutiny," he specified. This process could therefore take time, especially since the team has indicated that it does not want to rush announcements, risking weakening its own defense strategy.
Such an attack not only calls into question the security of the technical infrastructure but also the project's ability to respond transparently and effectively in a crisis situation. In a context of renewed interest in Layer 2 and cross-chain bridge solutions, this issue could hinder the adoption of Shibarium if not managed rigorously.
