Ethereum layer-2 network Taiko has suspended its bridge infrastructure after an exploit compromised its verification system, resulting in losses estimated at up to $1.7 million.
⚠️⚠️⚠️Security incident update: it’s contained.
The bridge and vault are paused and no more funds can be withdrawn.
The bridge is offline both ways so don’t try to bridge. Pending transactions are paused, not lost.
More info coming soon.
— Taiko.eth 🥁 (@taikoxyz) June 22, 2026
The project initially urged users to withdraw assets from bridges connected to the network. However, a later update confirmed that the incident had been contained and that bridge operations were fully paused to prevent further losses. The exploit adds to a growing list of decentralized finance (DeFi) security breaches this month, raising new concerns about vulnerabilities in blockchain bridge infrastructure.
Verification flaw triggers security crisis
In an update posted on X on June 22, Taiko said the affected bridge and vault had been paused and that no additional funds could be withdrawn. The team added that the bridge was taken offline in both directions, preventing users from transferring assets to or from the network while investigations continue.
Taiko also reassured users that pending bridge transactions had been paused rather than lost. The project said additional information would be released as the investigation progresses.
Earlier, the protocol disclosed that its chain state verification mechanism had been compromised, weakening the security assumptions behind bridges deployed on the network.
Blockchain security firm Blockaid said preliminary findings point to a flaw in the bridge’s validation process. According to the firm, message proofs were accepted on Ethereum without valid corresponding proofs on the Taiko blockchain.
This weakness allegedly allowed an attacker to create fraudulent bridge messages and withdraw assets from the network’s ERC-20 vault without authorization.
Stolen assets moved across the exchange
While Blockaid estimated losses at more than $1 million, blockchain analytics firms Lookonchain and PeckShield placed the total value of stolen assets closer to $1.7 million.
PeckShield reported that the attacker transferred 1.99 million TAIKO tokens, valued at roughly $189,000, to crypto exchange MEXC shortly after the exploit.
Data from blockchain intelligence platform Arkham shows wallets linked to the attacker currently hold around $1.5 million in digital assets, most of it in Ether. The exploit comes at a difficult time for Taiko’s native token. According to CoinGecko data, TAIKO remains significantly below its 2024 peak price.
DeFi exploits continue to rise in June
The Taiko breach is the latest in a string of crypto security incidents recorded this month. Just days earlier, Secret Network disclosed a smart contract exploit that resulted in losses of approximately $4.67 million. On Saturday, attackers drained about $1.1 million from the OLPC/LABUBU liquidity pool on PancakeSwap.
Other protocols affected in June include Aztec Connect, RetoSwap, Raydium AMM, Syscoin Bridge, and Humanity Protocol, which remains the largest reported exploit of the month with losses exceeding $30 million.
According to DeFiLlama, at least 23 crypto protocol exploits have been recorded so far in June, showing the continued security challenges facing the DeFi sector.
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