business
Taiko Halts Ethereum Layer-2 Network After $1.7 Million Bridge Exploit, Later Says Issue Contained
Taiko stopped block production on June 22, 2026, after an attacker forged withdrawal proofs to drain about $1.7 million from its bridge and token vault. The team urged users to withdraw funds and asked exchanges to suspend TAIKO deposits. CoinDesk reported the exploit was contained within hours.
CoinDeskAudio version
Tap play to generate a narrated version.
Developing·Limited corroboration so far. This page will refresh as more sources emerge.
Taiko halted block production on its Ethereum layer-2 network on June 22, 2026, after an attacker exploited its bridge to steal about $1.7 million, CoinDesk reported. The attacker forged withdrawal proofs so that fake requests were accepted on Ethereum without matching deposits on Taiko, draining both the bridge and its token vault.
Taiko urged users to withdraw funds from every bridge on the network and asked centralized exchanges to suspend deposits of its TAIKO token.
Block producers stopped creating new blocks while the team investigated. By about 2 a.m. ET the same day, Taiko stated the exploit had been contained. The TAIKO token, which has a market capitalization of $14.5 million, fell more than 20 percent since midnight UTC.
The exploiter moved about 2 million tokens, worth roughly $170,000, to an account on the MEXC exchange. Security firm BlockSec traced the likely cause to a signing key for Raiko that was left publicly accessible on GitHub. Taiko, which started up on Ethereum in May 2024, said it will release a full incident report.
The same forged cross-chain message technique has produced larger losses elsewhere this year. Kelp DAO's bridge lost $292 million in April and the Verus-Ethereum bridge lost $11.4 million in May. Bridges have accounted for more than $340 million in losses across at least 14 exploits in 2026.
