Aethir halts bridge exploit, promises compensation after $90,000 loss

Aethir, a decentralized GPU cloud infrastructure project for artificial intelligence, confirmed it suffered an attack on its bridge contracts and said it halted the exploit.

In an update Friday, the team said it detected and contained an attack on its Aethir (ATH) bridge contracts that connect Ethereum to other blockchain networks.

Cause and immediate response

Aethir said it promptly disconnected the compromised contracts after detection. The company also worked with major exchanges to blacklist tracked wallets, limiting losses to under $90,000.

The incident follows a report from blockchain analytics firm PeckShield on Thursday, which said it identified an exploit of Aethir’s cross-chain smart contract, AethirOFTAdapter. PeckShield estimated losses at $400,000 and said the exploiter bridged stolen funds from the BNB Chain to Tron, citing multiple addresses.

Broader DeFi context

Aethir’s response comes during a wider wave of decentralized finance (DeFi) attacks. Attackers stole nearly $170 million from dozens of protocols in the first quarter of 2026.

Current status and compensation plan

After disconnecting the compromised contracts, Aethir said its main ATH supply on Ethereum is fully intact and unaffected.

The platform said it will release a full compensation plan next week and share a list of attacker wallets, along with a detailed post-mortem and repayment plan on Discord.

“Aethir remains fully operational,” the company said, adding that it is working with authorities and exchanges to freeze funds and trace the attackers.

Exchanges and investigation support

Aethir named several partner exchanges that responded to the attack, including Binance, South Korea’s Upbit and Bithumb, and HTX. It also said the Web3 cybersecurity platform ZeroShadow contributed to the investigation by providing expert analysis.

Recent business performance

Aethir is a decentralized GPU cloud computing network that aggregates GPU resources across a global infrastructure rather than relying on centralized data centers. The company reported record revenue in 2025, stating it generated $127.8 million in revenue.

Aethir said its decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) stack had at least 440,000 GPU containers across 94 countries by the end of the year.

The project is backed by Web3 investors including Animoca Brands and Hashkey, and said it has raised over $140 million for the ecosystem.