Blockchain security firm Blockaid has walked back a high-severity exploit alert on the BitTorrent Chain (BTTC) Bridge on Ethereum, after direct confirmation from Justin Sun and the BitTorrent team that the $13.3 million fund movement was an internal, planned operation.
In its original post, Blockaid’s exploit detection system said it had identified a potential exploit on the BitTorrent Bridge on Ethereum, with roughly $13.3M drained from BTTC bridge predicate contracts, including about 7,285 ETH plus ERC-20 assets. That original alert has since been deleted.
In a follow-up update, Blockaid wrote, “After speaking with @justinsuntron and the @BitTorrent team, we’ve confirmed that the fund movement was intentional and not an exploit.”
Blockaid’s exploit detection system identified $13.3M movement on BitTorrent Chain Bridge as potential exploit, later confirmed internal operation
BTTC Bridge Sunset Program involved planned wind-down of bridge, announced in June 2026, with deposits closed and withdrawals completed by June 18
BitTorrent to focus on decentralized AI and protocol maintenance after bridge shutdown, with users able to deposit and withdraw BTTC Bridge funds through partner exchanges
Justin Sun Confirms It Was the BTTC Bridge Sunset Program
Responding to the alert, Justin Sun said the BitTorrent team informed him that the transactions marked the completion of the BTTC Bridge Sunset Program, a planned wind-down of the bridge that was announced weeks earlier.
In his reply, Sun said, “The team has notified me that they have completed the BTTC Bridge Sunset Program. Going forward, the BitTorrent team will focus more on decentralized AI and the maintenance of the BitTorrent decentralized protocol. All funds are safe, and users can continue to deposit and withdraw their BTTC Bridge funds through our partner centralized exchanges.”
Blockaid then confirmed in a second post that “The team approved the upgrade and drain done as part of internal operation, Not an exploit.” The firm’s update was reposted by Justin Sun himself.
What was the BTTC Bridge Sunset Program?
BitTorrent formally announced the BTTC Bridge Sunset Program in June 2026. Under the plan, deposits into the BTTC Bridge closed on June 13, and all user withdrawals wrapped up by June 18. Users were told to migrate mapped tokens such as TRX_e and TRX_b back to their native source chains before the deadline.
Notably, BitTorrent had clarified at the time that BTTC Chain operations, block generation, staking, delegation, and validator rewards would not be affected by the bridge shutdown. The $13.3M movement flagged by Blockaid appears to be the final settlement of predicate contracts holding user assets on the Ethereum side of the bridge.
Focus Now Shifts to Decentralised AI
With the bridge fully retired, Sun has confirmed that BitTorrent will pivot toward decentralised AI and the continued maintenance of its decentralised protocol stack. This is in line with BitTorrent’s 2025 roadmap update unveiled in November, where the team introduced a unified “BitTorrent x AI” vision combining decentralised storage, cross-chain infrastructure and AI applications.
Users still holding BTTC bridge assets have been told they can continue to deposit and withdraw through partner centralised exchanges.
Blockaid Under the Spotlight Again
The false alarm comes at a busy time for Blockaid, which has been flagging near-daily exploits across DeFi in 2026. Earlier this week, the firm partnered with 0xPredicate to plug its real-time Risk Exposure API into on-chain compliance policies. In July, Blockaid also flagged a live $6M attack on Summer.fi and, weeks earlier, was one of the first to raise the alarm on the $11.58M Verus-Ethereum bridge exploit and a $1M drain on Taiko’s ERC-20 vault.
While the BTTC alert turned out to be a false positive, the incident highlights how thin the line has become between planned protocol shutdowns and live exploits, especially as more Layer-2s and bridges enter sunset phases across the industry.
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