Ethereum and Solana have both enjoyed healthy gains over the last day.
Ethereum, the second-largest crypto network after Bitcoin, is currently up over 8%. Solana, another smart contract-enabled network, is up a whopping 11%.
These double-digit recoveries come shortly after one of this year’s largest exploits.
Wormhole, a crypto bridge protocol that lets different networks interact with each other, was hacked for $320 million in Wrapped Ethereum on Wednesday.
Wrapped Ethereum is a cryptocurrency that is pegged (and backed) 1:1 to the price of Ethereum and is interoperable with other Wormhole-compatible networks, like Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, Binance Smart Chain, Polygon, and more.
The attacker was able to freely mint 120,000 Wrapped Ethereum without needing to stake an equivalent amount of Ethereum.
Though the exploit was primarily related to how Wormhole and Solana were linked (rather than an explicit bug in Solana itself), the SOL token plummeted.
And just to clarify - this was not a "Solana bug" in the same way as "theDAO hack" was not an "Ethereum bug". Both Ethereum (EVM) and Solana are tools and it takes quite some time till people learn how to use those tools safely. And the EVM is simply a few years ahead here.
The nature of the hack also meant that existing WETH on the Solana network (ported over through Wormhole) was essentially unbacked, as the attacker was able to mint the asset without staking the underlying token.
To calm markets and return this backing, Jump Crypto, a crypto trading house based in Chicago, stepped in to fill the deficit.
.@JumpCryptoHQ believes in a multichain future and that @WormholeCrypto is essential infrastructure. That’s why we replaced 120k ETH to make community members whole and support Wormhole now as it continues to develop.
The president of Jump Crypto, Kanav Kariya, said that “Jump put up 120k of its own ETH because we believe in Wormhole and want to support it in this stage of its development. And we're going to come out stronger than ever.”
He added that a detailed incident report from Wormhole would soon be released.
Since then, both Solana and Ethereum have rebounded. SOL is currently back trading just above $105 and ETH is holding about $2,837.
Daily Debrief Newsletter
Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
Public Keys is a weekly roundup from Decrypt that tracks the key publicly traded crypto companies.
This week: Circle and Coinbase surge on stablecoin legislation movement, the Bitcoin treasury model raises concerns, and sources tell Decrypt that another crypto firm is eyeing an IPO this year.
Stroke of GENIUS
It makes sense that this week’s Senate vote in favor of the GENIUS Act was great for stablecoin issuers—but Circle has gone above and beyond.
The company’s CRCL shares, which trade on the N...
Here's something you don't see every day: Bitcoin's lesser-known cousins are stealing the show while the king of crypto takes a nap.
Bitcoin Cash has gone absolutely ballistic, rocketing 98% since its low point in April and trying to break the $500 resistance mark for good. Meanwhile, Bitcoin SV—yes, that controversial fork led by Satoshi pretender Craig Wright—is quietly climbing.
This rotation reflects broader market dynamics, with the S&P 500 on Friday hitting 6,000 points for the first time...
Looking to test your knowledge? Crypto users can tap into prediction markets—apps that let you predict the outcomes of world events, trading in and out in real-time as the odds fluctuate.
Prediction markets popularity surged with the United States elections last fall, but platforms like Myriad offer markets beyond politics, including sports, crypto, pop culture, video games and beyond, with an ever-changing assortment of timely opportunities.
Below, we’ll walk through some of the most popular an...
