Multi-Million Dollar Bridge Hack Triggers 99% Crash

On September 19 and 20, 2026, an attacker utilized compromised deployer and authorizer keys to manipulate a cross-chain bridge, draining millions in cryptocurrency and illicitly minting massive quantities of tokens. The coordinated breach bypassed underlying smart contract logic entirely, relying instead on fraudulent transaction signatures on the SingularityNET cross-chain bridge to compromise multiple digital assets.

Stolen Funds and Illicit Mints

The exploit began on September 19 when the attacker targeted Fetch.ai’s `TokenConversionManagerV3` contract. The perpetrator extracted a massive sum, stealing between 8.7 million and 8,721,530 FET tokens. This initial theft was valued at roughly $1.53 million to $1.56 million. Minutes after the FET tokens were drained, the attacker illegitimately minted 408.5 million NuNet (NTX) tokens. This freshly minted NTX was worth approximately $452,000 to $463,000. The illicit minting represented about 42% of the legitimate NTX supply, driving the cross-chain total from a capped 1 billion tokens to over 1.41 billion.

Early security trackers calculated the initial combined losses across Fetch.ai and NuNet at roughly $2.01 million. The attacker subsequently moved 40.1 million of the counterfeit NTX to the Cardano network within hours. By September 20, the scope of the exploit expanded significantly on the Ethereum network. The perpetrator minted 53.838 million World Mobile Tokens (WMTx) alongside 260 million SingularityNET (AGIX) tokens. Following this action, 70.1% of all AGIX circulating across the Ethereum and Cardano networks had been counterfeited by the attacker. Furthermore, at 13:10 UTC on September 20, the attacker managed to extract an additional $289,575 from a SingularityNET payout contract.

At the peak of the incident, alerts issued by blockchain security firms traced the attacker’s wallet cluster, estimating their holdings at approximately $16.77 million. The perpetrator successfully laundered a portion of the stolen assets, converting them into 523 to 546 Ethereum (ETH), valued between $1.44 million and $1.67 million.

Market Crash and Ecosystem Response

The sudden influx of counterfeit supply severely damaged token prices. In a 24-hour window, AGIX plunged over 99%, dropping from $0.0775 to $0.0006841. With a circulating supply of 1.21 billion, the price crash wiped $93 million from the asset's market capitalization. Consequently, the attacker’s own stash of 198.3 million AGIX lost nearly all liquidity, plummeting in value to approximately $135,000. NTX also suffered heavily, falling between 65% and 95% to hit an all-time low of $0.00004075 on September 20. FET experienced a milder 10% decline, holding price support near $0.1697.

In response to the bridge drain, Fetch.ai indefinitely suspended AGIX-to-FET conversions. Cryptocurrency exchanges KuCoin and Bitget also stepped in, suspending all FET deposits and withdrawals. Fetch.ai released a statement clarifying that its core smart contracts were entirely safe and unaffected, attributing the vulnerability strictly to compromised keys and external bridge infrastructure operated by SingularityNET.