A wave of cross-chain bridge attacks, now exceeding $650 million in losses this year, has triggered a $7 billion migration of token value onto Chainlink's cross-chain infrastructure. The network's Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) handled $4.9 billion in quarterly volume during the second quarter — up 353% from a year earlier — while total value secured across Chainlink's systems hit $110 billion.
The bridge hack wave
Losses from cross-chain bridges and related infrastructure have surpassed $650 million in 2026. Among the incidents: the Verus Ethereum Bridge and Polkadot-based Hyperbridge both suffered exploits. The attacks have shaken confidence in alternative bridging solutions, pushing projects toward Chainlink's CCIP, which launched on mainnet in July 2023.
Who moved and why
Mantle shifted more than $2.5 billion of MNT to CCIP. Lombard Finance moved over $1 billion in Bitcoin assets. Solv transferred more than $700 million in tokenized Bitcoin. KelpDAO migrated about $1.5 billion of rsETH after a $292 million exploit hit its previous bridging provider. Kraken moved more than $330 million of wrapped Bitcoin and plans to use CCIP for future wrapped assets. Re shifted about $475 million of reUSD distribution. Virtuals adopted CCIP for more than $700 million of VIRTUAL deployed across blockchain networks.
Institutional adoption picks up
It's not just DeFi protocols. The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. (DTCC) said its Collateral AppChain will use Chainlink's Runtime Environment and data standard for near-real-time collateral management. Fidelity International launched its first tokenized fund using Chainlink for onchain net-asset-value data. State Street Investment Management and Galaxy used Chainlink for SWEEP, a tokenized liquidity fund. Project Pangea, involving banking groups from Europe and South Korea representing more than 50 banks and over $10 trillion in assets under management, is exploring T+0 foreign-exchange settlement using Chainlink.
LINK token demand
Chainlink Reserve added more than 1.44 million LINK during the second quarter, lifting total holdings above 4.5 million tokens. The growth raises a question: can wider use of Chainlink's infrastructure translate into stronger economic demand for LINK? The DeFi sector is roughly $140 billion, and CCIP's share is growing fast — but the token's role in that growth remains an open question.
