A Wanchain bridge connected to the Cardano ecosystem reportedly suffered a major NIGHT token drain tied to third-party cross-chain infrastructure. Preliminary estimates place the amount removed between 290 million and 515 million NIGHT.
The stolen tokens were valued at approximately $9 million to $13 million, although the final loss remains unsettled. The incident affected bridge reserves rather than Midnight’s core protocol, network consensus or native token issuance.
Bridge Infrastructure Becomes the Primary Failure Point
Cross-chain bridges rely on coordinated accounting between separate blockchain environments. A weakness in message verification, reserve management or asset-release logic can allow attackers to extract collateral even when the connected base networks remain secure.
That distinction is important because a bridge compromise is not automatically a protocol compromise. Midnight’s underlying infrastructure may continue functioning normally while users and liquidity providers connected to the affected bridge face reserve and redemption risks.
The conflicting token estimates also leave the precise scale of the incident unresolved. Final accounting will depend on confirmed wallet movements, bridge reserve reconciliation and any official technical investigation from Wanchain or Midnight.
Hoskinson Warns of Broader Automated Threats
Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson used the incident to highlight the growing risk of AI-assisted cyberattacks across crypto infrastructure. He argued that bridge systems need stronger cryptographic verification, including designs incorporating zero-knowledge proofs.
Brief Update on WanChain https://t.co/Kwb1tMVBg4
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) July 21, 2026
His comments do not establish that this specific exploit was created or executed by AI. Instead, they place the breach inside a wider security discussion about attackers using automation to identify weaknesses and accelerate exploitation.
NIGHT reportedly experienced a sharp market decline followed by a partial rebound, but the exact price sequence remains uncertain. Market recovery does not resolve the underlying questions around bridge reserves, affected users or future cross-chain access.
The incident reinforces the structural vulnerability of bridge layers connecting otherwise functional networks. The next critical updates will be the final loss total, root-cause analysis, reserve status, recovery plan and any changes to Wanchain’s cross-chain verification architecture.