A hack occurred on Friday to a blockchain linked with Binance, the world’s most extensive crypto exchange, said a Binance spokesperson. This is only one of many hacks this year in the cryptocurrency industry.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao stated in a tweet that tokens had been stolen from a blockchain “bridge” used for the BNB Chain, which was called Binance Smart Chain up until February. Blockchain bridges are tools implemented to transfer cryptocurrencies between specific applications.
According to Zhao, the hackers stole around $100 million in cryptocurrency. BNB Chain later stated that the hacker had illicitly gained control of approximately 2 million BNB – valued at about $570 million.
In emailed comments, the Binance spokesperson said that “the majority” of the BNB remained in the hacker’s digital wallet address, while about $100 million was “unrecovered.”
Thefts of blockchain bridges have frequently increased, and they’ve long plagued the crypto sector.
The BNB Chain encourages the use of Binance Coin, which was formerly known as Binance Coin. According to CoinGecko data, it is currently the world’s fifth-largest token, with a market value of around $46 billion.
In 13 other bridge assaults, mostly this year, $2 billion worth of cryptocurrency has been stolen, according to Chainalysis, a crypto analytics firm.
One of the largest cryptocurrency heists on record occurred in March when hackers stole $615 million from Ronin Bridge, which is used to transfer crypto into and out of the game Axie Infinity. The United States linked North Korean hackers to the theft.
BNB Chain announced that it would suspend its blockchain for a few hours in a tweet, which resumes around 0630 GMT.
It said in its blog post that BNB Chain was “able to stop the incident from spreading” by contacting the blockchain’s “validators” – entities or individuals who verify blockchain transactions. BNB Chain said there are 44 validators across several time zones without further details.
The Binance Coin (BNB) Chain informed investors that it would utilize a new “governance mechanism” to combat future hacking and increase the number of validators.
The Binance website describes the BNB Chain as a “community-driven, open-source, and decentralized ecosystem.”
