IoTeX CEO Issues "White Hat" Appeal Following $4.4 Million Bridge Exploit

White Hat Proposal IoTeX CEO Raullen Chai has announced that a 10% reward, equivalent to approximately $440,000, will be granted to the attacker if the stolen funds are returned.
Chai further stated that no legal action would be pursued in the event of a full return, a move commonly referred to in the cryptocurrency industry as a "white hat" agreement.
Operational Security Breach Technical investigations revealed that the exploit did not stem from a code vulnerability within the smart contracts.
Instead, it was the result of a compromised private key belonging to a validator on the Ethereum side of the ioTube bridge.
IoTeX officials clarified that the Layer 1 blockchain remains unaffected, as the breach was strictly limited to the bridge infrastructure.
Nick Motz, CEO of ORQO Group, characterized the incident as a direct operational security failure, emphasizing that the responsibility for key management lies with the platform.
Technical Response and Network Update Following the attack, IoTeX began tracking the stolen funds across various chains and announced that exchange deposits have been frozen.
The network released "Mainnet v2.3.4," an emergency update that operators are required to implement.
This update introduces a blacklist protocol that blocks malicious addresses by default.
Market Impact and Industry Risks The security breach led to a significant decline in the value of the IOTX token, which dropped approximately 22%, falling from $0.0054 to below $0.0042.
Industry analysis highlights that cross-chain bridges remain the most vulnerable points in the crypto ecosystem, with total losses exceeding $3.2 billion due to similar exploits.