Echo Protocol hit by $77M exploit — attacker minted 1,000 eBTC with compromised admin key on Monad!

Echo Protocol, a Bitcoin-focused DeFi platform offering synthetic BTC liquidity and yield, suffered a $77 million exploit on Tuesday after an attacker used a compromised admin key to mint approximately 1,000 unauthorised eBTC tokens on the Monad blockchain. The breach was flagged by blockchain security firm PeckShield.

The attacker then borrowed $3.45 million in wrapped bitcoin (WBTC) against the minted tokens via Curvance's money market and reward layer, before routing the proceeds through Tornado Cash to obscure the trail. Echo Protocol says it has since regained control of the admin keys and burned the remaining 955 eBTC still held by the attacker.

As a containment measure, Echo has paused cross-chain functionality for its Monad deployment and upgraded the relevant contract to restrict affected operations. The Aptos bridge — Echo's primary network — was not directly compromised,…