Zetachain has halted all cross-chain transactions on its main network after detecting an attack on its GatewayEVM smart contract, a key component that connects the chain to external blockchains. The team said the incident was limited to internal team wallets and that user assets were not affected.
Scope of the breach and immediate response
The compromised GatewayEVM contract serves as the entry point for cross-chain activity between external EVM-compatible blockchains and applications running on Zetachain. According to the team, the attack vector has been closed to prevent any further unauthorized fund movements, and a patch is being prepared while cross-chain operations remain paused.
Data from DefiLlama indicates around $300,000 was lost in the exploit, though Zetachain has not yet confirmed the figure and has pledged to publish a full incident report after completing its investigation.
As of 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday—around nine hours after the breach was discovered—cross-chain transfers were still disabled.
Market reaction: modest drop in zeta
Zetachain’s native token, ZETA, declined about 4.8% to roughly $0.054 in the 24 hours following disclosure of the incident. The move was limited compared with past bridge hacks, in line with the platform’s assurance that user holdings were not impacted.
Positioning of zetachain in the cross-chain ecosystem
Zetachain is a Layer 1 network focused on interoperability, designed to connect multiple ecosystems including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Polygon. The project launched its mainnet in early 2024 with the goal of enabling native cross-chain messaging and asset transfers across these networks.
Rising pressure on cross-chain security
The Zetachain incident adds to mounting security concerns around cross-chain infrastructure. It follows the $292 million exploit of the LayerZero-powered Kelp DAO bridge, which left large bad debt on decentralized lending platform Aave and triggered the creation of an industry coalition called “DeFi United.”
That earlier Kelp DAO hack led to a rapid drawdown in Aave’s total value locked, which fell by more than $8 billion in two days as participants exited positions and reduced exposure to perceived bridge risk.
Since the Kelp DAO breach, DefiLlama has tracked at least ten additional attacks on decentralized finance projects. Security firms report that more than $606 million was stolen across the sector in just the first 18 days of April 2026, underscoring how aggressively attackers are targeting bridges and interoperability protocols.
Industry response: defi united and recapitalization efforts
In the wake of the Kelp DAO exploit, the DeFi United coalition has rallied substantial funding commitments to re-collateralize the rsETH token that was affected in the bridge failure.
Key ecosystem players have pledged tens of thousands of ETH, and Aave’s governance is weighing a 25,000 ETH injection from its treasury to support the broader recovery plan. The initiative signals an attempt by established protocols to restore confidence after a wave of high-profile security failures.
Outlook: heightened scrutiny of bridges and audits
With Zetachain now joining the list of targets, cross-chain infrastructure remains a focal point for attackers. Participants in this market face growing pressure to scrutinize the security design, codebase, and audit history of any bridge or interoperability layer they rely on.
The frequency and scale of April’s exploits suggest that bridge contracts and related components are being systematically probed for weaknesses, making rigorous due diligence on these systems a primary concern for anyone active in decentralized finance.
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