$450K Stolen from Garden Finance HTLC Contracts Across Multiple Networks
Garden Finance, a cross-chain atomic-swap protocol, temporarily disabled its application on July 26, 2026, after Blockaid reported an active exploit that resulted in the theft of approximately $450,000 in USDT. The funds were withdrawn from hash time-locked contracts deployed across multiple blockchain networks, including Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, and BNB Smart Chain.
The attacker gained unauthorized access to the off-chain database maintained by one independent solver and created fabricated swap records that instructed the solver to release USDT held in the corresponding HTLCs. This compromised the integrity of the solver's systems, allowing the attacker to bypass normal verification procedures and release liquidity without any matching deposits from the counterparty.
Garden Finance confirmed that only solver-owned capital was affected, and user funds remained untouched. The incident highlights the operational risks concentrated in the off-chain coordination layer of intent-based and atomic-swap systems. It also echoes a larger incident involving an $11.4 million solver compromise in October 2025.