BNB Chain Reopens Operations Following 2 Million Token Exploit

Binance’s BNB Chain is operational again following reports that a hacker stole an estimated 2 million BNB tokens by exploiting a network flaw.

“BNB Smart Chain (BSC) is running OK from 20+ mins ago. The validators are confirming their status, and the community infrastructure are upgrading as well,” according to a tweet from the official BNB Chain account.

This amount was approximately $586 million at the time of the exploit, making it the second-largest in the history of cryptocurrency.

Security company SlowMist claimed that the hacker was only able to escape with about $110 million. This is because the majority of the stolen tokens, totaling $430 million, were unable to be transferred off the BNB chain after the chain was suspended last night, according to the firm.

Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the CEO of Binance, tweeted last night that the “current impact estimate is around $100m USD equivalent.” Around $7 million was frozen, according to a Reddit update from the BNB Chain team, as a result of “coordination from the community and internal and external security partners.”

According to SlowMist’s analysis, Tether, a stablecoin provider, was in charge of freezing about 6.5 million of its USDT tokens that are pegged to the dollar. Since the stolen funds were not taken from wallets but rather were created by the attacker, BNB Chain and CZ assured token holders that “all funds are safe.”

“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,” tweeted CZ.

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