Verus Bridge Exploiter Returns $8.5M in ETH After $11.6M Hack

Highlights:

• A hacker returned 4,052.4 ETH worth $8.5M after exploiting the Verus-Ethereum Bridge.
• The Verus-Ethereum Bridge lost $11.6M due to a logic flaw in transaction validation checks.
• Verus offered the exploiter 1,350 ETH as a bounty to recover the majority of the stolen funds.

The exploiter behind the Verus-Ethereum Bridge hack has returned 4,052.4 ETH to the Verus team after stealing millions from the cross-chain bridge. Blockchain security firm PeckShieldAlert reported on Friday that the returned funds were worth about $8.5 million at the time.

The funds were sent to the Verus team address ending in C1A74. The returned amount represents about 75% of the stolen funds. PeckShieldAlert said the remaining 1,350 ETH, worth around $2.8 million, stayed in the exploiter’s wallet as a bounty.

The return came after Verus publicly asked the exploiter to return 4,052.4 ETH and keep 1,350 ETH as a bounty. The project shared the return address and asked the attacker to send the funds back. The latest transaction shows that the exploiter followed that request.

#PeckShieldAlert The @veruscoin Bridge exploiter has returned 4,052.4 $ETH (~$8.5M) to the team address: 0xF9AB…C1A74.

The returned funds represent 75% of the stolen total, leaving a 25% bounty (1,350 $ETH, ~$2.8M) in the exploiter's wallet. https://t.co/ZFIqnHBwZk pic.twitter.com/vPsiOigyQ5

— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) May 22, 2026

Verus Bridge Lost About $11.6M

The exploit hit the Verus-Ethereum Bridge on May 17. Security reports said the attacker stole about $11.58 million from the bridge. The stolen assets included ETH, tBTC, and USDC. The attacker later converted the funds into ETH.

#PeckShieldAlert The @veruscoin Verus-Ethereum Bridge has been drained for 103.6 $tBTC, 1.625K $ETH, and 147K $USDC.

The exploiter swapped the stolen assets for 5,402.4 $ETH (~$11.4M), which currently sits in 0x65Cb8b128Bf6e690761044CCECA422bb239C25F9.

The attacker’s address… https://t.co/DK0CDUAcqb pic.twitter.com/NMa8abhaTH

— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) May 18, 2026

A crypto bridge allows users to move assets between two blockchains. The Verus-Ethereum Bridge connects the Verus network with Ethereum. Verus says its bridge is non-custodial and decentralized, which means users do not need to trust one central party to move their funds.

However, the attack showed that bridge systems can still face major risks if transaction checks are weak. Security firm Halborn said the attacker used a validation issue in the bridge. The attacker reportedly created a fake cross-chain transfer message that passed the bridge’s checks and released more funds than it should have.

The exploit did not require the attacker to break blockchain cryptography. Instead, it came from a logic issue in how the bridge checked transfer data. That allowed the attacker to drain assets from the bridge reserves.

Fund Return Reduces Losses for Verus

The return of 4,052.4 ETH is an important recovery for Verus and its users. It brings back most of the stolen funds and reduces the total loss from the exploit. However, Verus still needs to explain what security changes it will make before users can fully trust the bridge again.

Crypto projects sometimes offer bounties after hacks to recover most of the stolen assets. In this case, Verus allowed the exploiter to keep 1,350 ETH while returning the larger share of the funds. These deals can help projects recover money faster, but they also show how costly bridge attacks can become.

The Verus incident adds to a long list of bridge-related hacks in crypto. Bridges often hold large amounts of funds because they connect different blockchains. That makes them attractive targets for attackers. Echo Protocol recently suspended cross-chain transactions after a Monad bridge incident, where an attacker reportedly minted 1,000 unauthorized eBTC worth about $76.7 million.