Binance’s BNB token worth $570 million was stolen in another major crypto hack

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance temporarily suspended its blockchain network after hackers made off with around $570 million worth of the BNB token.

Binance said late Thursday that a cross-chain bridge connected to the BNB chain was targeted, allowing hackers to move GDP tokens from the network. So-called cross-chain bridges are tools that allow the transfer of tokens from one blockchain to another.

The company said it had been working with transaction validators to stop the creation of new blocks on the BSC, suspending all transaction processing while a team of developers investigates the breach.

Binance is the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume.

“An exploit on a cross-chain bridge, BSC Token Hub, resulted in additional BNB. We have asked all validators to temporarily suspend BSC,” Changpeng Zhao, Binance’s CEO, said in a tweet Thursday evening.

“The issue is now resolved. Your money is safe. We apologize for the inconvenience and will provide further updates accordingly.”

BNB Chain has since resumed operations.

In total, hackers drained 2 million BNB tokens — about $570 million at current prices — from the network, Binance’s BNB chain said in a blog post on Friday.

The exploit was enabled “through a sophisticated forging of the low-level proof into one shared library,” BNB Chain said.

An earlier estimate by the company placed the total amount withdrawn in a range of $100 million to $110 million.

The company said it was able to freeze $7 million in funds with the help of its security partners.

The value of BNB fell more than 3% on Friday morning to $285.36 per coin, according to CoinMarketCap data.

BNB Chain, originally known as Binance Chain, was first developed by Binance in 2019. Like other blockchains, it has a native token, called BNB, which can be traded or used in games and other applications.

It’s the latest in a series of major hacks targeting cross-chain bridges, with instances of sloppy construction making them a prime target for cybercriminals.

A total of around $1.4 billion has been lost due to chain bridge breaches since the start of 2022, according to data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.

The crypto industry has had a rough year, with roughly $2 trillion in value wiped out since the peak of a powerful rally from 2020 to 2021. The implosion of $60 billion blockchain venture Terra and a deteriorating macroeconomic environment have severely affected market sentiment.