Representatives of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, have reportedly stolen $570 million from its blockchain, the latest in a string of attacks on the cryptocurrency industry this year.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said in a tweet that tokens were stolen from a blockchain called a "bridge" in the BNB chain. Blockchain bridges allow cryptocurrencies to be transferred between other applications. Thieves have increasingly targeted these bridges, with 13 different hacks this year alone stealing about $2 billion, according to research firm Chainalysis.
According to Zhao’s post, the thieves stole nearly $100 million worth of cryptocurrency. Later, according to a BNB chain blog post, the hackers withdrew a total of 2 million BNB coins worth about $570 million.
According to an email from a Binance representative, most of the BNB is still in the hacker's digital wallet address, with about $100 million worth of coins still "unrecovered." The BNB chain supports the BNB coin, which is the world's fifth-largest cryptocurrency with a market value of more than $45 billion, according to data provider CoinGecko.
The hackers created 2 million new BNB tokens before moving most of the funds to other cryptocurrencies including Tether and U.S. dollar stablecoins, according to London-based cryptocurrency blockchain research firm Elliptic. BNB Chain said it temporarily deactivated its blockchain before restarting at 6:30 a.m. GMT.
According to a blog post, BNB Chain “successfully prevented the spread of the problem” by contacting the blockchain’s “validators” (organizations or individuals who confirm blockchain transactions). The post added that there are currently 44 validators spread across several different time zones, but gave no further explanation.
To prevent future hacking attacks, Binance described the BNB chain as a “community-driven, open-source and decentralized ecosystem,” saying it would add new “governance mechanisms” and increase the number of validators.
In March, hackers stole more than $615 million in one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts ever in a blockchain bridge called Ronin Bridge. The United States has attributed the theft to North Korean hackers, making it the largest theft ever.
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