Nomad Recovers $22M of $190M in Ethereum Tokens Stolen in Hack

Crypto bridge Nomad has recovered over $22.4 million of the $190 million-worth of Ethereum and Ethereum-based tokens stolen earlier this week. 

Earlier this week, hackers pinched funds in Ethereum, USDC, DAI, WBTC, and CQT worth $190 million from Nomad, a project that allows users to move assets between blockchains. 

The bridge said it was working with “its community, law enforcement and blockchain analysis firms to ensure all funds are returned” in a Thursday blog post. 

Nomad also said it would pay a 10% reward to hackers who returned the tokens to an Ethereum address—and that no legal action would be taken against those who did so. Stolen funds have slowly trickled in since the announcement. 

“We urge all good actors to return funds ASAP to cement your status as a cooperative white hat,” the protocol said. “Anyone who returns at least 90% of the total funds they took will be considered a white hat. White hats can also choose to return the full amount.”

A token bridge is a tool in the crypto world which lets people move assets between different blockchains. This helps people take advantage of different tools and projects on various blockchains, without having to trade their tokens through a centralized exchange. 

Nomad’s bridge allows users to move digital assets between a number of different blockchains, including Avalanche and Ethereum. 

Bridges are popular in the world of decentralized finance (DeFi) but are a relatively new technology. Hackers were able to take advantage of a configuration error in a smart contract that Nomad uses to process messages. 

The project at the time of writing had received $425,142.04 in Ethereum and $21.9 million in other Ethereum-based tokens from hackers.