Binance’s BNB blockchain has been hit by a hack and temporarily shut down. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao estimates the damage at $100 million, but cryptocurrency experts believe the actual amount is much higher.
The blockchain has now resumed. The blockchain was temporarily suspended due to “irregular activity”, Binance reports on Twitter. All systems were temporarily shut down. The community was called in to freeze any transfers of cryptocurrency. The BNB blockchain has now resumed.
The exploit affected the native cross-chain bridge between the BNB Beacon Chain and the BNB Smart Chain, also known as the BSC Token Hub, according to Binance. The exploit provided extra BNB, Binance’s cryptocurrency. According to Zhao, about $100 million worth of BNB was stolen. The BNB Chain’s Twitter account again reports that the maximum amount involved is 80 million dollars. At least $7 million would have been secured.
However, several experts in the cryptocurrency world argue that the actual damage may be higher. For example, DeFi developer foobar claims that the hacker stole two million from BNB. That is worth about 566 million dollars at the current price of the crypto coin. Paradigm researcher samczsun claims the same, stating that the hacker “somehow” got the Binance Bridge to send him 1 million BNB, twice.
