Solana (SOL) fell more than 12% on Thursday after reports emerged the blockchain platform had suffered an exploit. The downside coincided with a broader market slump that saw nearly $100 billion wiped off the total cryptocurrency market valuation.
The SOL price dropped below $100 and touched lows of $94.90 according to data from CoinGecko.com.
Another DeFi exploit
Solana’s slump followed an exploit on the Wormhole network, a cross-chain project that connects Solana to leading smart contracts platform Ethereum.
The exploit on Wormhole Bridge saw hackers make off with over $326 million after stealing 120,000 wETH tokens.
The exploit is the largest so far in 2022 and highlights the security threats that face the decentralised finance (DeFi) space.
According to one industry analyst, the hack on the Wormhole project is likely to end up as one with the "most cross-contagion" effect in the ecosystem.
$256M Wormhole exploit is not only one of the largest exploits we've seen, but also one with the most cross-contagion we've seen.
Numerous lending protocols, AMMs, and yield aggregators across the Solana ecosystem at risk of being drains.
Cross-chain is hard.
— Ryan Watkins (@RyanWatkins_) February 2, 2022
Bitcoin slumps alongside stocks
Elsewhere, Bitcoin (BTC) fell below $37,000 again as the flagship cryptocurrency sold off alongside stocks on Thursday morning. The dip happened as investor sentiment took a hit on the Bank of England’s second interest rate hike.
Bitcoin was trading around $36,904 at 9.20 am ET, down 4.6% in the past 24 hours. Ethereum (ETH) was also down 5.8% at $2,616.
Metaverse-linked tokens also took a beating after the shares of Meta Platforms sank more than 20% on Thursday after the Facebook-parent company posted a huge loss in the fourth quarter.
Decentraland (MANA) dumped over 6% while The Sandbox dipped well over 10% before recouping some of the losses in early morning trades in the US session.
