Tokens were taken from a blockchain “bridge” utilised in the BNB Chain, according to a tweet from Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao.
The largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, Binance, has a connection to a blockchain that was the target of a $570 million theft, according to a representative for Binance on Friday. This is just the latest in a string of attacks that have hit the cryptocurrency industry this year.
Binance Smart Chain Latest News :-
The BNB Chain, which was formerly known as Binance Smart Chain until February, was using a blockchain “bridge” when tokens were stolen, according to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao in a tweet. Blockchain bridges are devices that are used to move bitcoins across various apps.
According to data from CoinGecko, the BNB cryptocurrency, formerly known as Binance Coin, is supported by BNB Chain. It is the fifth-largest token in the world by market cap with a value of almost $46 billion.
A spokeswoman for Binance stated in an email that about $100 million worth of BNB was “unrecovered” and that “the majority” of it was still in the hacker’s digital wallet address.
Zhao estimated the stolen cryptocurrency to be worth $100 million. Later, according to a blog post by BNB Chain, the hacker withdrew 2 million BNB tokens, which are valued approximately $570 million.
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Cyber Security on Cryptocurrency :-
Thefts, which have long plagued the cryptocurrency industry, are now targeting blockchain bridges.
13 distinct bridge hacks, largely this year, resulted in the theft of about $2 billion in cryptocurrency, according to a report released in August by the crypto analytics company Chainalysis.
One of the biggest cryptocurrency heists ever took place in March when hackers stole over $615 million from Ronin Bridge, a system used to transfer cryptocurrency into and out of the game Axie Infinity. The United States connected the theft to North Korean hackers.
BNB Chain tweeted that its blockchain has been shut down for several hours before being restarted at about 0630 GMT.
By getting in touch with the blockchain’s “validators,” which are organisations or people who confirm blockchain transactions, BNB Chain was “able to halt the event from spreading,” according to its blog post. Without providing any information, BNB Chain claimed that there are 44 validators spread throughout numerous time zones.
In order to prevent future attacks and increase the number of validators, BNB Chain claimed it will establish a new “governance system.”
A “community-driven, open-sourced and decentralised ecosystem” is how BNB Chain is referred to on the Binance website.
