AFX Trade Hit by $24M Bridge Compromise on Arbitrum

A recent exploit on the Arbitrum network has resulted in significant losses for AFX Trade, a perpetual DEX. On July 22, 2026, an attacker compromised the validator signing keys behind a bridge operated by AFX, draining roughly $24.15 million in USDC from the platform's total value locked.

The stolen funds were moved to Ethereum and swapped for around 12,467 ETH, nearly emptying the protocol's TVL. According to Blockaid, the on-chain logic worked exactly as designed, but the keys producing those signatures were compromised, allowing the malicious withdrawal to look entirely legitimate.

AFX has suspended the compromised bridge and offered a 'white hat bounty' of 30% of the stolen assets, around $7.2 million, in exchange for the attacker's return of 70% of the funds. The team is actively tracing the Ethereum wallet containing the converted ETH with security firms Blockaid and PeckShield.