After suffering one of the worst exploits in the crypto world, Wormhole’s parent company, Jump Trading, has stepped in to replace the lost 120000 ETH coins, potentially saving the platform and preventing widespread damage across the entire DeFi ecosystem. The platform confirmed this with a Tweet on Thursday.

.@JumpCryptoHQ believes in a multichain future and that @WormholeCrypto is essential infrastructure. That’s why we replaced 120k ETH to make community members whole and support Wormhole now as it continues to develop.
— jump_crypto 🔥💃🏻 (@jump_) February 3, 2022

Jump Trading bought Wormhole developer Certus One in August. Jump is also an active investor and trader in Solana DeFi circles, where news of the backstop was well-known. The Wormhole team has stated that a full disclosure report is underway.

The Wormhole portal was attacked earlier Wednesday using a vulnerability in the ‘smart contracts’ feature that allowed the attacker to get away with assets worth approximately $325 million in crypto. The majority of the stolen funds were moved to the Ethereum chain.

Also read: 23 critical UEFI vulnerabilities found impacting at least 25 computer brands

Funds restored, operations resume

Wormhole confirmed the restoration from Jump, stating that all funds have been restored and that the platform is running again. The attack vector has also been patched.

1/2

All funds have been restored and Wormhole is back up.

We're deeply grateful for your support and thank you for your patience.
— Wormhole🌪 (@wormholecrypto) February 3, 2022

These blockchain bridge platforms function by holding an asset into a ‘smart contract’ and then issuing the desired asset wrapped in another chain. Since the exploit minted wrapped ETH on Wormhole, the platform’s real ETH reserves were left unbacked.

Many investors who have been dealing with low-interest rates are attracted to DeFi platforms thanks to their promise of high returns on savings. However, DeFi platforms have been under constant threat from attackers.

Timeline of the Wormhole bridge breach

As mentioned above, Wormhole has confirmed that a detailed incident report is in the works. In the meantime, here’s a breakdown of the breach’s timeline.

February 2 18:26 UTC: The platform gets breached for 120,000 ETH.
February 3: 00:33 UTC: The attack vector gets patched.
February 3: 13:08 UTC: The ETH contract gets refilled and all lost ETH is backed one to one.
February 3: 13:29 UTC: Wormhole is operational again.

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