Binance Smart Chain (BSC)—a blockchain—a blockchain powered by the world’s largest crypto exchange, The Binance Smart Chain hit the brakes on Thursday after the blockchain with links to the world’s largest crypto exchange suffered a “potential exploit” that could target hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto, according to evidence on the chain.
“Due to irregular activity, we are temporarily suspending BSC,” BNB Chain tweeted on its official account, later confirming that the activity was a “possible exploit” which it characterized as closed.
Initial token movements indicated that the attacker was hit with two million BSC tokens late Thursday, but the actual losses may be much lower. BNB Chain estimated that between $100 million and $110 million worth of assets had been removed from the chain, but said in a tweet that $7 million had already been frozen.
Having such a small (relatively speaking) amount of assets stolen highlighted BNB’s gamble to stop the chain rather than risk a larger amount of assets fleeing. Blockchains are supposedly decentralized beasts, designed to function independently of the whims of individual entities; you shouldn’t just flip a switch.
BSC confirmed that it coordinated the shutdown of the chain after discovering problems with the BSC Token Hub protocol, an explanation for crypto transactions moving between locked parts of the blockchain related to Binance. It thanked the validators for their swift action.
One tweet read, “WeOne tweet read, “We are humbled by the speed and cooperation of the community in freezing funds..” The spectres of the attack rocked BSC’s native BNB token, which fell from $293.10 to $280.
After a sleepy trading day, according to Binance-owned CoinMarketCap. On-chain data shows that this afternoon, two mass withdrawals of 1 million BSC tokens were taken from the BSC token centrec by an attacker who seized crypto assets through inter-chain exchanges, bridges and loans. However, BNB Twitter promised that “all funds are safe” and said it “helps freeze all transfers.”
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Twitter researchers note that Tether—theTether—the largest stalcoin provider—has provider—has listed the offending address, suggesting the company suspects the gesture was the result of an attack rather than something more benign.
Source: Coindesk
