Critical hack of Taiko L2 network: hacker stole $1.7 million, all ecosystem bridges at risk
On June 22, 2026, the ecosystem of the Ethereum L2 solution Taiko faced a serious security incident. I determined that an attacker compromised the blockchain state verification mechanism — one of the key components ensuring trust in the second-layer network.
As a result of the attack, all bridges (bridge protocols) deployed on Taiko were put at risk. The project developers officially confirmed that their security can no longer be relied upon. Users are strongly advised to immediately withdraw funds from all bridge protocols on the network. This means that any assets locked in bridges could potentially be stolen.
The Taiko team is actively coordinating with the ecosystem security council and partners to contain the threat. A request has been sent to centralized exchanges to suspend deposits of the native TAIKO token until an official notification of situation stabilization.
According to the analytical platform Lookonchain, the hacker stole assets worth approximately $1.7 million. The attacker's portfolio includes native TAIKO tokens and various "wrapped" versions of Ethereum (wETH). Part of the stolen funds has already been moved: 1.99 million TAIKO (equivalent to $189,000) were deposited on the MEXC exchange. At the time of analysis, the hacker had 870.8 ETH (about $1.52 million) remaining in the wallet.
The market reacted instantly: the TAIKO rate fell by 11% in a day — from $0.09 to $0.07. The 15-minute chart shows a sharp drop immediately after the news of the hack was published.
This incident echoes the recent attack on the Axelar project bridge, which faced an "infinite mint" vulnerability of $4.67 million on June 19. It is evident that bridges remain one of the most vulnerable points in the infrastructure of L2 solutions.
My analysis: The compromise of the state verification mechanism is not just a hack of a single contract. It is a fundamental problem of trust in the network itself. Until a full audit is conducted and verification is restored, Taiko risks losing a significant portion of locked liquidity. Users should refrain from interacting with any protocols on this L2 network until the threat is officially lifted.