Nikolas Sargeant
TL;DR:
- ZetaChain pauses cross-chain transactions after GatewayEVM exploit
- Attack impacted only internal wallets; no user funds lost
ZetaChain Halts Cross-Chain Transactions Following Attack on Smart Contract
Interoperability-focused Layer 1 network ZetaChain has temporarily halted cross-chain transactions on its mainnet after detecting an attack targeting its GatewayEVM contract.
The GatewayEVM contract serves as a core infrastructure component, providing a unified entry point for cross-chain interactions between external EVM-compatible networks and applications built on ZetaChain.
According to the team, the exploit was contained to internal wallets, with no user funds affected. The vulnerability has since been mitigated to prevent further losses, though investigations remain ongoing.
Data from DefiLlama estimates that roughly $300,000 was lost in the incident, although ZetaChain has not confirmed the figure and plans to release a full post-mortem.
“As a precaution, cross-chain transactions are currently paused,” the team said, adding that normal operations will resume once the investigation is complete.
ZetaChain’s status page indicated that cross-chain functionality remained suspended as of Monday evening, several hours after the breach was first identified.
Dubbed as a “universal blockchain,” ZetaChain aims to connect major ecosystems, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Polygon.
The network launched its mainnet in early 2024 with a focus on seamless interoperability across chains.
This latest hack comes after a few crypto projects lost millions to attackers so far in April.
Notably, the recent exploit of the Kelp DAO cross-chain bridge — built on LayerZero — resulted in approximately $292 million in losses, triggering knock-on effects across the ecosystem, including bad debt on Aave.
Solana-based decentralized exchange Drift Protocol also suffered a $285 million exploit earlier this month.
Since that breach, at least 10 separate attacks have hit DeFi protocols, according to DefiLlama data.
