The CEO of the largest crypto exchange by trading volume is updating Binance Smart Chain (BSC) users on yesterday’s cross-bridge exploit.
In a tweet accompanied by a more detailed Reddit post, Binance chief Changpeng Zhao says the issue is resolved and user 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. We apologize for the inconvenience and will provide further updates accordingly.”
According to the shared Reddit post, Binance initially estimated between $100,000,000-$110,000,000 were removed from BSC.
“Initial estimates for funds taken off BSC are between $100 million – $110 million. However, thanks to the community and our internal and external security partners, an estimated $7 million has already been frozen.”
But according to a new BNB blog post, they now estimate approximately 2 million BNB were withdrawn, worth $564,000,000 at time of writing.
“A total of 2 million BNB was withdrawn. The exploit was through a sophisticated forging of the low level proof into one common library.”
BNB Chain temporarily halted deposits and withdrawals on BSC after detecting irregular activity that later turned out to be an exploit affecting the BSC Token Hub—the cross-chain bridge between BNB Beacon Chain (BEP2) and BNB Smart Chain (BEP20 or BSC).
“To confirm, we have suspended BSC after having determined a potential exploit.
All systems are now contained, and we are immediately investigating the potential vulnerability. We know the Community will assist and help freeze any transfers.”
The network has since resumed operation. BNB Chain says that the swift community response helped minimize the losses.
“Decentralized chains are not designed to be stopped, but by contacting community validators one by one, we were able to stop the incident from spreading.”
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