Polkadot's $1B Mint Hack Exposes the Weakest Links of Bridge Security

A hacker exploited a vulnerability in Polkadot’s Hyperbridge, minted 1B fake $DOT tokens, and cashed out ~$237K in ETH within minutes. The incident triggered a sharp price drop and widespread panic, shaking confidence in one of crypto’s “secure” ecosystems. It highlights ongoing risks with cross-chain bridges and reinforces a hard lesson: poor security practices (like weak audits and ignoring whitehats) are still costing projects big time.