AFX Trade, a protocol on Arbitrum (ARB), lost roughly 24.15 million USDC (USDC) on July 22 after an attacker exploited a bridge it operates.
Security firm Blockaid flagged the attack at 21:30 UTC. It marks the 14th crypto security incident recorded in July, a month that has already surpassed June’s hack losses.
Attacker Drains 24 Million USDC From AFX-Operated Bridge
The exploit targeted a bridge run by AFX, not the Arbitrum network itself. Blockaid detected the drain and began coordinating a response with the Arbitrum team.
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The attacker then moved the stolen USDC from Arbitrum to Ethereum (ETH). Blockchain security firm PeckShield reported the funds were swapped into 12,467.5 ETH.
It traced the converted ETH to a single wallet, 0x6276…ebAC. The tally reflects funds drained so far, and the figure could still shift as the flow is tracked.
Offchain Labs co-founder Steven Goldfeder addressed the incident directly. He drew a firm line between AFX’s bridge and Arbitrum’s core infrastructure.
“We’re aware of a report of a bridge hack on Arbitrum and are investigating. We can confirm that the transaction in question originated from a third party protocol, and the Arbitrum native bridge has not been hacked or exploited in any way,” he said.
A Rough Month for Crypto Security
The AFX breach comes amid a costly stretch for the sector. It follows a string of similar cross-chain attacks that have drained protocols through their bridge layers.
Data from DefiLlama showed 13 hacks across various protocols in July, prior to this incident, totaling $72.6 million in losses. The AFX exploit brings the count to 14.
The incident also pushes the July total to roughly $97 million. The figure already surpasses the $75.32 million in losses from hacks in June.
The coming days should reveal whether the protocol can freeze or recover any of the stolen funds.
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