Ankr Ethereum Bridge Exploit Tied to Forged Optimism Receipts
Ankr's Ethereum bridge lost roughly $304,500 after five fraudulent withdrawals reused a completed Optimism deposit.
Ankr's Ethereum bridge lost roughly $304,500 after five fraudulent withdrawals reused a completed Optimism deposit. Ethereum (ETH) is trading at $2,018.39, down 4.7% since this brief published. This is an original TLT brief synthesising 2 outlets (Crypto Adventure, Crypto.news), plus live market data, as of Tue, 10 Nov 2026 16:45:03 UTC.
The incident exposes how cross-chain receipt validation can become a failure point, potentially affecting bridge users and confidence in the wrapped-transfer mechanism.
- Five fraudulent withdrawals targeted Ankr's Ethereum bridge
- Loss estimates ranged from $292,000 to $304,500
- Optimism TVL stood at $480.71 million, down 4.7% over seven days
- Ethereum traded at $2,118.18, down 5.81% over seven days
Crypto Adventure and Crypto.news agree that Ankr's Ethereum bridge suffered an exploit on November 9 involving five suspicious or fraudulent withdrawals linked to an already completed deposit on Optimism. Crypto Adventure reports a refined loss estimate of approximately $304,500 from SlowMist, while Crypto.news describes the loss as more than $303,000; Crypto Adventure also notes Blockaid's earlier estimate of $292,000. The outlets agree on the withdrawal count, the Optimism deposit connection and the roughly $300,000 scale of the incident, with no contradiction over the reported mechanism.
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- Ankr Ethereum Bridge Exploit Tied to Forged Optimism Receipts — this brief
Ankr's 
Ethereum cross-chain bridge was exploited on November 9, with five fraudulent withdrawal requests linked to a deposit that had already been completed on 
Optimism. Crypto Adventure reports an estimated loss of approximately $304,500, while Crypto.news characterizes the amount as more than $303,000. Both outlets connect the withdrawals to activity that reused a previously settled Optimism deposit.
Blockchain security firm Blockaid initially identified the incident and placed the loss at $292,000, according to Crypto Adventure. SlowMist later assessed the damage at roughly $304,500 and identified forged cross-chain receipts that passed the bridge's validation process. That difference separates the initial security assessment from the later, higher estimate rather than indicating disagreement about the basic exploit.
Crypto Adventure provides more detail about the apparent sequence: an attacker submitted five fraudulent withdrawal requests using the earlier Optimism deposit. Crypto.news independently corroborates the five withdrawals and the link to a previously redeemed Optimism deposit. The reported scale, method and timing therefore align across both accounts, although their headline loss descriptions use slightly different thresholds.
Optimism's total value locked stood at $480.71 million as of the supplied DeFiLlama data, representing a 4.7% decline over seven days. The bridge incident occurred within that context, but the reported figures do not establish how much of the TVL change was directly attributable to the exploit. Ethereum, the destination network named in the coverage, remained the larger asset involved in the affected route.
Ethereum was priced at $2,118.18, up 0.54% over 24 hours but down 5.81% over seven days, with a market capitalization of $258.86 billion. Optimism traded at $0.101021, up 2.91% over 24 hours and down 6.00% over seven days, with a market capitalization of $231.42 million. The broader crypto market capitalization was $2.56 trillion and remained flat, while the Fear & Greed Index registered 32, indicating a Fear reading. The immediate issue to monitor is whether further fraudulent receipts or withdrawals emerge alongside revisions to the loss estimate.
Since this brief published about 11 hours ago, Ethereum (ETH) has moved from $2,118.18 to $2,018.39 — -4.71%, a notable move.
The chart plots ETH's price: grey is the move before this brief published, the vertical dashed line marks the moment it published, the horizontal dashed line is the price then, and the coloured area is the move since — from TLT's market data (daily resolution). It shows what happened after the news, not that the news caused it; many factors move prices. Not financial advice.
At today's peer-to-peer rate, 1 ETH ≈ ₦2.79M (about $2,018.39), down 5.2% over 24 hours. The naira itself trades about 2.6% above the official rate on the P2P market, so a Nigerian buyer's effective cost differs from the headline dollar price.
Live market data
Current prices for the assets in this story — live, source-stamped, updated every 15 minutes.
Figures and sectors in this story, checked live against on-chain aggregators · November 10, 2026.
TLT reads these figures directly from on-chain aggregators (DeFiLlama, mempool.space) at build time — independent of what any outlet reported. Sector totals aggregate every protocol DeFiLlama tracks in that category. Values are live and will change.
Ankr Ethereum Bridge Exploit Tied to Forged Optimism Receipt — questions & answers
How much did Ankr's Ethereum bridge lose?
Crypto Adventure cites SlowMist's estimate of approximately $304,500, while Crypto.news reports more than $303,000. Crypto Adventure also notes Blockaid's earlier estimate of $292,000.
How did the bridge exploit work?
An attacker submitted five fraudulent withdrawal requests tied to a previously completed deposit on Optimism. Crypto Adventure reports that forged cross-chain receipts passed validation.
What were ETH and Optimism prices during coverage?
Ethereum traded at $2,118.18, while Optimism traded at $0.101021. Both were down over seven days despite posting positive 24-hour moves.
How much is 1 Ethereum worth in naira today?
About ₦2.79M at the live peer-to-peer (P2P) USDT rate, which is what Nigerians typically trade at — equivalent to roughly $2,018.39. The naira price moves with both ETH's US-dollar price and the USDT/NGN rate; use our Ethereum in naira page for any amount.
Has Ethereum's price moved since this brief was published?
ETH is down 4.71% since this brief first published — trading at $2,018.39 now versus $2,118.18 at publication. TLT re-checks this figure against CoinGecko and Binance every 15 minutes.
Which outlets reported this story?
This is an original TLT brief that synthesises reporting from Crypto Adventure, Crypto.news, with the key figures cross-checked for agreement across them. It is not a copy of any one article — follow the source links above for the original reporting.
Original summary — not financial advice. This is an original TLT brief that summarises a development reported elsewhere and adds live market data for context; it is not the original article and reproduces no part of it. Follow the source link above for full details. Crypto is volatile and high-risk — always do your own research.