Another serious security breach has shaken the crypto world. The Nervos Network has fallen victim to an exploit after attackers took control of its cross-chain bridge Force Bridge, leading to the theft of approximately $3 million in digital assets.
Attackers Took Over Force Bridge and Laundered the Funds
According to initial reports, an unknown attacker managed to seize control of the Force Bridge—used to connect different blockchains within the Nervos ecosystem. After gaining access, they moved the assets to Ethereum and laundered them through the privacy tool Tornado Cash.
This tactic made it nearly impossible to trace or recover the stolen funds—Tornado Cash is specifically designed to obfuscate transaction trails.
Magickbase and Cyvers Sound the Alarm
The first warning came from Magickbase, a developer of desktop wallets integrated with Nervos. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the team reported suspicious activity on Force Bridge and immediately shut down related services as a precaution:
“We detected abnormal activity on #ForceBridge and proactively paused the service. Our team is investigating the situation.”
Blockchain security firm Cyvers Alerts followed up with a detailed analysis, confirming that a suspicious address had taken over the bridge and initiated unauthorized transfers from the Nervos network.
Tornado Cash Used as a Laundering Tool
The attacker moved the stolen assets to Ethereum and began funneling the funds through Tornado Cash—a crypto “mixer” that hides transaction origins and destinations. This method of money laundering has become increasingly common among cybercriminals, and once the funds enter Tornado, recovery becomes nearly impossible.
A Growing Threat Across the Blockchain Space
Unfortunately, this isn’t an isolated case. Cross-chain bridges—technologies meant to connect different blockchain ecosystems—have become one of the most targeted components in crypto infrastructure.
Just in the past year, we've seen similar exploits affect the Ronin Bridge, Binance Bridge, Orbit Chain, Socket, and more, costing users millions of dollars.
The Force Bridge was part of Nervos Network’s broader vision of secure and scalable blockchain interoperability. The network has long been praised for its hybrid model that combines Bitcoin’s UTXO system with smart contract functionality. In a 2024 report, Messari even named Nervos CKB a potential breakthrough platform in blockchain programmability.
However, this breach highlights the harsh truth: even technically advanced networks are only as secure as their weakest component.
Tornado Cash: Privacy Protector or Criminal Gateway?
This incident also reignites the ongoing debate around tools like Tornado Cash. While proponents argue it provides privacy benefits to regular users, criminals continue to exploit it to clean massive amounts of stolen funds.
Given the increasing frequency of such events, it's likely that regulatory pressure on privacy-focused tools will continue to intensify.
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