Yet again, hackers have targeted cryptocurrency after the Binance coin hack was reported to have lost around $600m. In a tweet, the BNB blockchain (BSC) warned users of “irregular activities” taking place within the company.
The exploit was reported on October 6, 2022, and is said to be related to a cross-chain bridge utilizing the BSC Token Hub. Upon further investigation, researchers discovered that the unknown hacker group had flushed 2 million BNB ($556 million) from the accounts.
Out of the stolen funds, around $7 million has already been frozen by the hacker, who aims to bridge the remaining funds away from BSC into Ethereum, Fantom, and other cryptocurrencies. The company has temporarily paused the BSC operations on the website and will continue its operation after identifying the threat actors and possibly retrieving the stolen funds.
An exploit on a cross-chain bridge, BSC Token Hub, resulted in extra BNB. We have asked all validators to temporarily suspend BSC. The issue is contained now. Your funds are safe. We apologize for the inconvenience and will provide further updates accordingly.
— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) October 6, 2022
The current impact estimate is around $100m USD equvilent, about a quarter of the last BNB burn.
— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) October 7, 2022
Following the detection of the suspicious activities, the CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, addressed the breach while claiming that the funds were safe. However, he later confirmed that the impact estimate was around $100 million USD. As per sources, the hack resulted in the loss of over $600 million in BNB tokens.
Binance hack explained
$600 million hack of BNB, and Binance has decided to halt BSC (Binance Smart Chain).
[De]Centralized finance.
— Dylan LeClair 🟠 (@DylanLeClair_) October 6, 2022
After the coin hack, the price of BNB fell by 3.7%, and several users might want to opt-out of the coin due to security issues. The researchers are yet to find out who or what caused the theft. However, sources claim that an “inside job” is responsible for the BNB hack. The exploit further elaborates on the subject of using centralized finance and decentralized finance.
To confirm, we have suspended BSC after having determined a potential exploit.
All systems are now contained, and we are immediately investigating the potential vulnerability. We know the Community will assist and help freeze any transfers.
All funds are safe.
— BNB Chain (@BNBCHAIN) October 6, 2022
Binance responded to the hack and said, “To confirm, we have suspended BSC after having determined a potential exploit. All systems are now contained, and we immediately investigate the potential vulnerability. We know the Community will assist and help freeze any transfers. All funds are safe.”
BeInCrypto reported that the on-chain data highlighted two withdrawals of 1 million BSC tokens, and it gave the attacker a way to grab all the BNB via cross-chain swaps, bridges, and borrows.
