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News · Security & Hacks

zkLink Nova Halts Network After Attacker Drains $780,000 From Bridge

The team paused block production and disabled withdrawals after an exploit targeted its Arbitrator contract on Ethereum and Optimism.

▼ Bearish$ETH $2,217 −5.4%$ZKL
October 30, 2026basisdesk.news
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Key point 1 of 3

01

zkLink paused Nova block production and disabled withdrawals after an attacker siphoned over $780,000 from its cross-chain bridge on Oct. 28 .

October 30, 2026basisdesk.news
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Key point 2 of 3

02

Security firms traced the issue to Nova's Arbitrator contract on Ethereum and Optimism, which allowed unauthorized batch root submissions .

October 30, 2026basisdesk.news
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Key point 3 of 3

03

The zkLink team deployed contract patches, offered a 20% bounty for the return of funds, and gave no fixed timeline for restoring services .

October 30, 2026basisdesk.news
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Context

Cross-chain bridges remain persistent vectors for protocol exploits, with attackers continuing to target smart contract verification functions and relayer mechanisms.

October 30, 2026basisdesk.news
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Why it matters

Users of zkLink Nova cannot bridge or withdraw assets while the network remains halted and contracts stay paused during security reviews.

October 30, 2026basisdesk.news
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What to watch

Confirmation from zkLink regarding the restart date for Nova services and whether the attacker accepts the 20% white-hat bounty offer.

October 30, 2026basisdesk.news
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Sources

Built from 1 primary source, machine-checked before publication.

  • unchainedcrypto.com
October 30, 2026basisdesk.news
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