AFX Trade, a decentralized perpetual exchange operating on the Arbitrum network, has been exploited for approximately $24 million in USDC, according to an alert flagged by blockchain security firm PeckShield.
The incident is part of a broader wave of attacks on July 23, 2026, with on-chain analytics platform Lookonchain reporting that three separate exploits have already taken place on the same day, pushing total losses to $35.55 million.
PeckShield Flags AFX Trade Exploit
In a post shared at 6:02 AM on July 23, 2026, confirmed that the exploiter had already moved the stolen funds off Arbitrum and into Ethereum.
The alert reads: “@AFX_XYZ on #Arbitrum has been exploited for ~$24M USDC. The exploiter has bridged the stolen funds from #Abitrum to #Ethereum and swapped them for 12,467.5 $ETH, currently sitting in 0x6276…ebAC.”
The exploiter’s wallet is currently under active on-chain surveillance.
Arbitrum Native Bridge Not Compromised
Responding to concerns that the incident may have involved Arbitrum’s core infrastructure, Steven Goldfeder, Co-Founder of Offchain Labs and a key contributor to the Arbitrum ecosystem, issued a public clarification on X.
Goldfeder stated: “We’re aware of a report of a bridge hack on Arbitrum and are investigating. We can confirm that the transaction in question originated from a third party protocol, and the Arbitrum native bridge has not been hacked or exploited in any way.”
The confirmation from Goldfeder is significant for the broader Layer 2 ecosystem. A compromise of Arbitrum’s native bridge would have raised systemic risk concerns across every protocol deployed on the network. Instead, the exploit remains contained to AFX Trade’s own third-party bridge setup.
Lookonchain Calls It “Hackers’ Day” With $35.55M in Losses
Adding a broader lens to the situation, on-chain analytics firm Lookonchain posted an update at 10:52 AM on July 23, 2026, flagging three separate exploits within a single day.
The post reads: “Is today Hackers’ Day? Three exploits have already happened today, with total losses of $35.55M.”
The breakdown of losses shared is as follows:
- AFX Trade exploited for $24.15 million
- Verus Ethereum bridge exploited for $7.55 million
- B² Network exploited for $3.86 million
Bridges Remain the Weakest Link in DeFi
Two of the three exploits reported on July 23 involved cross-chain bridge infrastructure. AFX Trade’s loss came through a third-party bridge operating on Arbitrum, while Verus was hit through its Ethereum bridge. This reinforces an ongoing pattern in DeFi where cross-chain messaging and bridging layers continue to be the most frequently targeted attack surface.
B² Network, the third protocol affected on the day, is a Bitcoin Layer 2 solution built on zero-knowledge proof verification. The nature of the exploit affecting B² Network has not yet been publicly detailed.
What Happens Next
AFX Trade, Verus and B² Network have not yet released detailed post-mortems on their respective incidents. The Arbitrum team, through Goldfeder, has confirmed that the investigation into the AFX exploit is ongoing.
Blockchain security firms continue to track wallet activity across all three incidents. The exploiter wallet 0x6276…ebAC holding the swapped ETH from the AFX Trade attack remains under close watch for any further movement.
This is a developing story. Updates will follow as more information becomes available.
Also Read: Ostium to Resume Trading on July 23 After $18M Arbitrum Exploit
