The Shibarium bridge, part of the Shiba Inu ecosystem's layer-2 network, was exploited in a flash loan attack resulting in a loss of $2.4 million. The attacker borrowed 4.6 million BONE tokens to gain control of 10 out of 12 Shibarium validators, enabling them to drain assets from the bridge.
Following the attack on September 15, 2025, Shiba Inu (SHIB) price fell 11.5% from its monthly high to $0.0000131, while the BONE governance token suffered a devastating 43.5% decline to $0.1926. The K9 Finance (KNINE) token also dropped nearly 10% to $0.00000257.
In response, the Shibarium team clarified that the protocol itself was not hacked but rather compromised through stolen validator keys. K9 Finance has offered a 5 ETH bounty (approximately $23,000) for the return of stolen assets, with the reward decreasing after seven days and the offer remaining open for 30 days.
Shiba Inu developer Kaal Dhairya confirmed that authorities have been contacted while the team remains open to negotiations. The developers have paused staking and unstaking, moving stake manager funds into a multisig-controlled hardware wallet for additional security. The team is collaborating with blockchain security firms Hexens, Seal 911, and PeckShield to investigate the incident and prevent further breaches.