Published , by Morgan Shaver
Published , by Morgan Shaver
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance is currently dealing with the aftermath of a massive hack, with the company confirming that a cross-chain bridge linking its BNB Chain was targeted on Thursday. With this cross-chain bridge exploit, hackers were able to move a substantial amount of BNB tokens off-network. Thus far, a reported 2 million BNB tokens were withdrawn which amounts to approximately $570 million based on current token prices.
To prevent further losses, Binance has been working with network validators to suspend the creation of new blocks on BSC, along with suspending all transaction processing in order to give a team of developers room to investigate the hack. According to a Binance spokesperson in a statement made to CNBC, the company presently has 26 active validators, with 44 total across various time zones.
“An exploit on a cross-chain bridge, BSC Token Hub, resulted in extra BNB. We have asked all validators to temporarily suspend BSC,” tweeted Binance CEO, Changpeng Zhao. “The issue is contained now. Your funds are safe. We apologize for the inconvenience and will provide further updates accordingly.”
It’s noted in reports from outlets like CNBC that BNB Chain has since resumed operations. Elaborating further on what happened in a blog post, the Binance team echoes what Changpeng Zhao tweeted in assuring that the “vast majority of the funds remain under control.”
As a result of the hack, the value of BNB dropped over 3 percent on Friday to $285.36 a coin according to CoinMarketCap. For more on the Binance hack, be sure to read through the full report from CNBC, and check out some of our previous coverage including Congress asking Binance alongside other digital asset exchange companies like Coinbase and FTX for additional info on the over $1 billion in crypto fraud that it’s investigating.