Gravity Bridge, a Cosmos-native cross-chain protocol, was the target of a botched attack, which led to the theft of approximately $5.4 million over the weekend. This latest security breach joins the growing list of things that have been victimized in decentralized finance (DeFi) so far in 2026.
Gravity Bridge Hack Followed Signing Disruption: Investigator
Saturday, May 31st, blockchain sleuth Spectre lighting fixtures that Gravity Bridge can be used in what he described as a key signature. In its context, key signing refers to the unauthorized disclosure or theft of a private key, allowing an attacker to use it to encrypt confidential information, create a digital signature, or gain unauthorized access to a machine and, as in this case, money.
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The expert explained that the confiscation of crypto assets worth about $5..4 million, including $4.3 million USDC, 274 wrapped ether worth about $553,000, $434,000 in USDT, and 14,16 tokens PAXG worth about $64,000. According to the security company PeckShield, the attacker stole part of the stolen funds through the exchange ChangeNOW and Binance, but still holds 2,100 Ether (worth about $4.23 million).
The team behind Gravity Bridge it has been confirmed attack on Saturday, saying that the organizers and musicians should stop their work while they investigate what happened. “Thanks to the prompt action of the verifiers, the bridge has been suspended while the investigation continues,” the protocol announced in a follow-up message.
Gravity Bridge is a communication system that works by locking tokens on the Ethereum network and creating a direct view of crypto assets on the Cosmos network, relying on valid signatures to approve each transfer. Therefore, the protocol can treat even false transactions as valid if the malicious actor obtains the correct signing keys.
If proven to be serious enough, this Gravity Bridge event will be consistent with the ongoing practice of crypto-bridges, in which breaches are often placed on access controls rather than the underlying code of intelligence. This example can be seen in many recent events, and Attack on Kelp DAO $292 million a famous event.
Crypto Hacks Will Continue to Accumulate in 2026
As we said before, the $5.4 million Gravity Bridge hack joins a growing list of hacks that have shaken the crypto industry, especially the DeFi sector, in 2026. Specifically, bridges seem to have become soft for attackers this time.
In particular, the TRM Labs report to be known April 2026 as the most hacked month, with the highest activity in the history of crypto. These attacks included the $292 million hack of Kelp DAO and the $285 million loss of Drift Protocol.
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Image taken from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView
