Cross-chain protocol Allbridge halts after $1.65 million flash loan exploit

Finance Cross-chain protocol Allbridge halts after $1.65 million flash loan exploit The attacker used a $1.12 million flash loan from Kamino to manipulate pool ratios, enabling them to withdraw assets at favorable rates before bridging funds. By Francisco Rodrigues , AI Boost | Edited by Jamie Crawley Jul 20, 2026, 9:31 a.m. 1 min read Make preferred on Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Make preferred on Glasses in front of monitors with code (Kevin Ku/Unsplash) Summary Show Allbridge Core paused its protocol following a $1.65 million flash loan exploit on its Solana liquidity pools. The attacker used a $1.12 million flash loan from Kamino to manipulate pool ratios, enabling them to withdraw assets at favorable rates before bridging funds. Allbridge paused operations for investigation and advised liquidity providers to withdraw, while also asking traders who profited from the imbalance to return funds. Allbridge Core has paused its cross-chain stablecoin protocol after an attacker stole roughly $1.65 million from its Solana liquidity pools, according to security firms CertiK and PeckShield. Allbridge is a bridge that lets users move assets between blockchains that do not communicate directly. Its Core product uses liquidity pools to transfer native stablecoins such as USDC and USDT without issuing wrapped versions of the assets. The attacker used a $1.12 million flash loan from Solana lending protocol Kamino to rapidly swap USDC and USDT, manipulating the pools’ internal ratios before withdrawing assets at favorable rates, according to Onchain Lens. A flash loan is a loan taken and repaid within the same transaction. The stolen assets were bridged to an Ethereum address and dispersed across additional addresses. It isn’t currently clear how much remains under the attacker’s control. Allbridge said it paused the protocol while investigating, and told liquidity providers to withdraw from affected pools. The initial manipulation left the pools imbalanced and created a temporary arbitrage opportunity. Allbridge asked traders who profited from the pricing distortion to return funds for LP compensation. Allbridge suffered a similar flash loan attack in 2023 that drained roughly $650,000 from its BNB Chain pools. The firm later said it recovered most of the funds and changed its liquidity and withdrawal calculations. Allbridge had raised $2 million in 2022 to expand the bridge and fund security audits. Web3 Solana News AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards . For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy . Latest Crypto News 1 U.S. regulatory developments and earnings, ECB rate decision: Crypto Week Ahead 34 minutes ago 2 Amazon Japan supplier AZ-Com Maruwa to adopt yen stablecoin JPYC for payments 1 hour ago 3 Live markets: Oil bounce and lingering AI selloff pushes bitcoin under $64,000 2 hours ago 4 Moonshot AI IPO push follows Kimi, Alibaba AI releases that shook bitcoin 2 hours ago 5 Bitcoin ETFs see new money again, but inflows remain ‘peanuts’ relative to the recent exodus 3 hours ago 6 Bitcoin flat near $64,000 as oil hits a one-month high and Kimi AI selloff lingers 4 hours ago 7 The GENIUS Act turns 1: State of Crypto 15 hours ago 8 Bitcoin's biggest advocate, Michael Saylor, says new plan to clean up the blockchain is 'a bad idea' 18 hours ago 9 AI is destroying the internet. Math is our only hope. 19 hours ago 10 Tether's USDT hits 2-year countdown threatening its position on U.S. crypto platforms 20 hours ago Latest Research Gate Leads Spot Market Share Gains as CEX Volumes Rise for First Time in Five Months Gate Leads Spot Market Share Gains as CEX Volumes Rise for First Time in Five Months CEX trading volumes rose for the first time in five months in June, with spot climbing 15.3% to $1.11T and RWA perpetual volumes surging to a record $311B. By CoinDesk Research Jul 13, 2026 CEX trading volumes rose for the first time in five months in June, with spot climbing 15.3% to $1.11T and RWA perpetual volumes surging to a record $311B. Why it matters : CEX trading volumes rose for the first time in five months in June, with spot climbing 15.3% to $1.11T and RWA perpetual volumes surging to a record $311B. View Full Report More From Finance Amazon Japan supplier AZ-Com Maruwa to adopt yen stablecoin JPYC for payments Kraken says simpler options can unlock crypto's next derivatives market Crypto executives say digital native generations may never need a bank account