Symbiosis Recovers 15 BTC After Bitcoin Bridge Exploit

Symbiosis, a cross-chain liquidity protocol, has suffered an exploit on its native Bitcoin Bridge. The attack occurred at approximately 04:28 UTC on September 11, 2026, and allowed an attacker to mint synthetic bitcoin representations, syBTC, on BNB Chain.

The vulnerability was similar to the one exploited in the Polkadot bridge incident where an attacker minted one billion DOT on Ethereum. Symbiosis immediately halted BTC routes and isolated the affected bridge from its other components, which include routes spanning EVM chains, TRON, and TON.

The protocol has recovered approximately 15 BTC, now secured in a team-controlled multisig, and has offered the attacker a 20% white-hat bounty. If the attacker does not claim the bounty by September 13, 2026, the same offer will be extended to anyone providing information that leads to recovery.

Symbiosis stressed that its other routes remain operational and safe. The protocol's relayer group remains active to secure the network, but Bitcoin swaps are currently unavailable through the native bridge.