PANews reported on September 14 that according to The Block, the Shibarium cross-chain bridge connecting the Layer 2 network and Ethereum was hacked, causing a loss of US$2.4 million. Developers suspended staking, unstaking and related processes to rotate and protect validator keys.

The attacker borrowed 4.6 million BONE tokens (Shibarium's governance token) through a flash loan and appears to have gained access to 10 of the 12 validator signing keys used to secure the network, giving them a two-thirds majority stake. The attacker then exploited their privileged position to steal approximately 224.57 ETH and 92.6 billion SHIB from the Shibarium bridge contract and transferred these funds to their own address. These funds are worth approximately $2.4 million at current prices.

In response to the attack, Shiba Inu developers suspended staking and unstaking functionality on the network, effectively freezing borrowed BONE tokens (which had already been affected by the unstaking delay) and causing the attacker to lose majority control. The attacker also obtained a large amount of K9 (KNINE) tokens (associated with K9 Finance), valued at approximately $700,000. When the attacker attempted to sell the KNINE, the K9 Finance DAO intervened and blacklisted the attacker's address, preventing the tokens from being sold.