Aethir stops bridge attack, vows full reimbursement following sub-$90K breach
Aethir reported it stopped an attack targeting its bridge contracts on Ethereum, keeping total losses below $90,000 despite initial estimates from PeckShield suggesting damages near $400,000.
Aethir, a platform providing decentralized cloud infrastructure with GPU resources for artificial intelligence applications, acknowledged a security breach targeting its bridge contracts and announced the exploit has been stopped.
On Friday, the platform disclosed that it had identified and successfully stopped an attack targeting its Aethir (ATH) bridge contracts that facilitate connections between Ethereum and additional blockchain networks.
According to the Aethir team, they immediately isolated the affected contracts after discovering the breach and collaborated with leading cryptocurrency exchanges to add the identified wallets to blacklists, successfully keeping total losses below $90,000.
This announcement followed a report from blockchain analytics firm PeckShield the previous day on Thursday, which disclosed an exploitation of Aethir's cross-chain smart contract known as AethirOFTAdapter. With damage estimates reaching $400,000, PeckShield indicated the attacker transferred the compromised funds from BNB Chain to the Tron network, identifying multiple wallet addresses involved.
This incident by Aethir occurs during an escalating series of security breaches across decentralized finance (DeFi), with malicious actors successfully stealing approximately $170 million from numerous protocols throughout the first quarter of 2026.
Aethir plans compensation, says main ATH supply on Ethereum is unaffected
Following the disconnection of the affected contracts, Aethir stated that its primary ATH token supply residing on Ethereum remains completely secure and has not been compromised.
The company announced it will unveil a comprehensive compensation plan in the coming week and will publish a list identifying the attacker's wallet addresses, alongside a thorough post-mortem analysis and detailed repayment strategy on its Discord channel.
Aethir remains fully operational, the company stated, further noting that the platform is actively coordinating with law enforcement agencies and cryptocurrency exchanges to freeze the stolen assets and track down those responsible for the attack.
The platform identified several partner exchanges that took action in response to the security incident, specifically mentioning exchanges including Binance, the South Korean platforms Upbit and Bithumb, in addition to HTX. The company also acknowledged that ZeroShadow, a Web3 cybersecurity platform, assisted with the investigation by delivering specialized analytical insights.
Aethir reported record revenue in 2025
Aethir operates as a decentralized cloud computing network leveraging GPU technology to deliver distributed infrastructure supporting AI applications, gaming platforms and enterprise computing needs. Rather than depending on traditional centralized data centers, the platform aggregates GPU computing power from participants across a worldwide network.
The company disclosed revenue totaling $127.8 million throughout 2025, stating that its decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) architecture included a minimum of 440,000 GPU containers distributed across 94 countries by year's end.
Major Web3 investment firms back the platform, including notable names such as Animoca Brands, Hashkey and various others, with total funding exceeding $140 million raised to support ecosystem development.