Cryptocurrency company Nomad suffers $190 million theft

U.S. cryptocurrency firm Nomad has suffered a $190 million theft, blockchain researchers said on Tuesday, in the latest such crime to hit the digital asset industry this year.

Nomad said in a tweet that it was “aware of the incident” and was investigating, without giving further details or the value of the theft.

Cryptocurrency analytics firm PeckShield told Reuters that $190 million worth of users’ cryptocurrencies was stolen, including ether and USDC stablecoin. Other blockchain researchers estimate the value at over $150 million.

Nomad did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The company has notified police and is working with forensic blockchain firms to try to identify the accounts involved and recover the proceeds, it said in a statement to cryptocurrency news outlet CoinDesk.

Nomad, which last week raised $22 million from investors including major US exchange Coinbase Global, makes software that connects different blockchains.

The theft targeted Nomad’s ‘bridge’ — a tool that allows users to transfer tokens between blockchains. Blockchain ‘bridges’ have increasingly become the target of thefts, which have long plagued the cryptocurrency industry.

Nomad describes itself as a “security first” company, which would keep users’ resources safe.

PeckShield said a small proportion of the coins were moved to the so-called “mixer”, which masks the trail of cryptocurrency transactions, while about $95 million was held in three other wallets.

More than $1 billion has been stolen from bridges so far in 2022, according to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic.

In June, US cryptocurrency firm Harmony said thieves stole around $100 million worth of tokens from its Horizon Bridge product.

In March, hackers stole around $615 million worth of cryptocurrencies from Ronin Bridge, used to transfer cryptocurrencies in and out of the Axie Infinity game. The United States has linked the case to North Korean hackers.