What Happens to Bridged Tokens When a Crypto Bridge Gets Hacked?

Bridging crypto does not literally move the same token from one blockchain to another.

In many bridge designs, the original asset is locked on the source chain, while a corresponding wrapped or bridged token is minted on the destination chain. That new token can maintain a 1:1 value only while the assets backing it remain secure.

Ethereum’s official bridge documentation warns that this structure introduces smart-contract, counterparty and systemic risks.

So what happens if the bridge gets hacked?

The Bridged Token Can Lose Its Backing

Imagine a bridge holds 10,000 ETH on Ethereum and has issued 10,000 wrapped ETH tokens on another blockchain.

Normally:

10,000 wrapped ETH = 10,000 ETH in bridge reserves

If an attacker drains 6,000 ETH from the bridge contract, however, 10,000 wrapped tokens still exist while only 4,000 ETH remain available to redeem them.

The wrapped asset is now undercollateralized.

Market participants may immediately start selling it below the price of native ETH because they no longer know whether each token can be redeemed one-for-one.

This is similar to a stablecoin depeg, except the missing collateral sits inside cross-chain infrastructure rather than a stablecoin reserve.